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Abraham Lincoln 
From a photograph by Brady, 1860 



A STUDENTS' HISTORY 



OF 



THE UNITED STATES 



BY 

EDWARD CHANNING 

Mclean professor of history in harvard university 



WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



iFourtf) EefaigclJ Eliition 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1919 

All rights reserved 



Copyright, 1897, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY, 

Copyright, i8g8, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Copyright, 1904, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Copyright, 1913, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Copyright, 1919, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published December, 1897. Reprinted April, 1898. 
New edition, with additions, printed September, 1898; August, 1899; July, 1900; 
March, 1901 ; March, 1902; May, 1903. Revised edition printed June, 1904; 
January, July, 1905; March, 1906; February, 1907; January, 1908; December, 
1908; May, 1910. Third revised edition, October, 1913; May, 1914; July, 1914; 
February, 1915; March, igi6. Fourth revised edition, 1919. 



©CI.A530333 

JUL 24 1919 



PREFATORY NOTE 

The cordial welcome and continued favor which have 
been accorded to this advanced manual of United States 
history have been far in excess of the author's expectations. 
He feels assured that this success has been due, in great 
measure, to the kindness of the many friends which the 
book has found. In preparing this new edition he has 
endeavored, as far as possible, to meet their wishes, to 
follow their valuable suggestions, and to correct the errors 
which they have pointed out. He has also rewritten and 
enlarged the matter given to the years since the close of 
the Civil War and brought the text down to the present 
time. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
October, 1913. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 



The Land and its Resources 



SHC. PAGE 

1. Geography and History . . i 

2. Temperature of America and 

of Europe 2 

3. Temperature of the United 

States 3 

4. Rainfall 5 



SEC. PAGE 

5. Physical Formation of North 

America 6 

6. The Atlantic Seaboard . . 8 

7. The Mississippi Basin . . 9 

8. The Cordilleran Region . . 10 

9. Adaptability of the Continent 11 



CHAPTER I 
Discovery and Exploration, 1000-1600 



SEC, PAGE 

ID. Voyages of the Northmen . 15 
II. English and French Fisher- 
men 15 



\ 



k 



Early Geographical Ideas . 15 
Ideas of Toscanelli, Behaim, 

and Columbus .... 16 
Columbus's First Voyage, 

1492 18 

Columbus's Later Voyages . 19 

16. The Cabot Voyages, 1497, 

1498 21 

17. The Naming of America . 22 

18. Discovery of the Pacific, 1513 23 

19. Circumnavigation of the 

Globe 25 

20. Discovery of Florida ... 26 

21. Mexico . 26 

22. The Spanish on the Atlantic 

Coast o 27 



14 



IS 



SEC. PAGE 

23. The Verrazano Voyage, 1524 27 

24. Discovery of the Southwest 27 

25. Coronado's Expedition, 

1540-1542 28 

26. De Soto's Expedition, 1539- 

1543 29 

27. The French in the St. Law- 

rence, 1534-1541 ... 30 

28. The Huguenot Colonies, 

1562-1565 30 

29. Destruction of the French 

Colony, 1565 31 

30. The Elizabethan Seamen . 32 

31. Drake's Voyage around the 

World 33 

32. Sir Humphrey Gilbert . . 34 

33. The Ralegh Colonists, 1584- 

1590 34 

34. The Spanish Armada, 1588 36 



vm 



Table of Contents 



CHAPTER II 
Colonization, 1600-1660 



SEC, 

35- 

36. 

37- 
38. 
39- 
40. 

41. 
•42. 

43- 
44. 

45- 
46. 

47- 

48. 

49- 
50- 

51- 

52- 
53- 
54- 
55- 
56. 



PAGE 

The French in Acadia and 

Canada 41 

Revival of English Enter- 
prise 42 

The Virginia Company, 1606 42 

The Popham Colony, 1607 . 43 

The Jamestown Colony, 1607 43 
The Virginian Charters of 

1609 and 1612 .... 44 
Dale's Administration . . 45 
Introduction of Representa- 
tive .Institutions .... 46 
Introduction of Forced Labor 47 
Overthrow of the Virginia 

Company 47 

Virginia under the Royal 

Governors, 1624-1652 . . 47 
Virginia during the Puritan 

Supremacy 48 

The Calverts and Maryland 49 

Boundaries of Maryland . 50 

Government of Maryland . 50 
The Act concerning Religion , 

1649 51 

The Council for New Eng- 
land, 1620 51 

The English Puritans ... 52 

The Pilgrims 52 

The Pilgrim Compact, 1620 53 
Settlement at Plymouth, 1620 53 
The Pilgrims and Commu- 
nism 55 



SEC PAGE 

57. Form of Government ... 55 

58. The Massachusetts Bay 

Company, 1629 .... 56 

59. The Puritans in England . 56 

60. The Great Emigration, 1630- 

1640 57 

61. Problems of Government . 59 

62. Attacks on Massachusetts . 59 

63. Roger Williams .... 60 

64. Founding of Providence, 

1636 60 

65. Anne Hutchinson and her 

Adherents 61 

66. Settlements on Narragansett 

Bay 62 

67. The Founding of Connecti- 

cut, 1635-1637 .... 62 

68. Connecticut Orders of 1638- 

1639 62 

69. Extent of Connecticut . . 63 

70. New Haven, 1638 .... 63 

71. The First New England 

Code of Laws, 1641 . . 64 

72. The United Colonies of New 

England, 1643 .... 64 

73. Articles of Confederation . 65 

74. The Dutch Settlements . . 66 

75. Governors Kieft and Stuy- 

vesant 67 

76. The Swedes on the Dela- 

ware 68 

77. Summary 68 



CHAPTER III 
A Century of Colonial History, 1660-1760 



SEC. PAGE 

78. The New Era in Coloniza- 

tion 74 

79. The Puritans and Quak- 

ers 74 

80. The Enghsh Government 

and Massachusetts ... 75 

81. Massachusetts Declaration 

of Rights, 1661 .... 76 



SEC PAGE 

82. The Commission of 1664 . 77 

83. Charters of Connecticut and 

Rhode Island 7J 

84. The Conquest of New Neth- 

erland, 1664 78 

85. Settlement of New Jersey . 79 

86. William Penn 79 

87. Mason and Dixon's Line . 80 



Table of Contents 



IX 



SEC. PAGE 

88. The Northern Boundary of 

Pennsylvania 8i 

89. Penn and the Indians . . 82 

90. Government of Pennsyl- 

vania 83 

91. The Carolina Charters, 

1663, 1665 84 

92. Settlement of the Carolinas 84 

93. Grievances of the Virgini- 

ans, 1660-1676 .... 85 

94. Bacon's Rebellion, 1676 . 85 

95. Virginia, 1677-1700 ... 86 

96. Overthrow of the Massa- 

chusetts Charter ... 86 

97. The " Stuart Tyranny in 

New England " . . . . 

98. The " Glorious Revolution " 

in America 



87 



SEC. PAGE 

99. Policy of the New Govern- 
ment 89 

100. Georgia 91 

loi. The Carolinas 92 

102. Constitutional Progress, 

1689-1760 92 

103. French and Indian Wars, 

1690-1748 93 

104. Founding of Louisiana . . 94 

105. Expulsion of the French, 

1754-1763 95 

106. The Proclamation of 1763 . 97 

107. The Albany Congress, 1754 99 

108. Statisticsof Population, 1760 loi 

109. Negro Slavery loi 

no. White Servitude .... 103 

111. Religion 103 

112. Education ...... 105 



CHAPTER IV 



Intercolonial Union, 1760-1774 



I 



SEC. PAGE 

113. Change in the Colonial 

Policy of Britain . . .111 

114. The Colonial System, 1688- 

1760 112 

115. Difficulties in Enforcing the 

Laws 112 

116. Writs of Assistance, 1761 . 113 

117. Otis's Rights of the Colo- 

nies, 1764 114 

118. The Parson's Cause, 1763 . 114 

119. Grenville's Policy . . . .116 

120. Passage of the Stamp Act, 

1765 116 

121. The Stamp Act 117 

122. Representative Institutions 117 

123. English Theory of Repre- 

sentation 119 

124. Resistance in America . . 119 

125. The Stamp Act Congress, 

1765 121 

126. Repeal of the Stamp Act, 

1766 122 



SEC. 

127. 

12S. 

129. 
130. 

131- 

132. 
133- 

134- 

135- 
136. 

137. 
138. 
139- 



The Townshend Acts, 

1767 124 

Resistance to the Town- 
shend Acts, 1768, 1769 . 125 
Seizure of the Liberty, 1768 126 
The Virginia Resolves of 

1769 127 

Non - Importation Agree- 
ments, 1769 128 

The Boston Massacre, 1770 129 
Local Committees of Cor- 
respondence 131 

Colonial Committees of 

Correspondence . . . 132 
Colonial Union .... 133 
Repressive Acts, 1774 . . 134 
The First Continental Con- 
gress, 1774 135 

More Repressive Measures, 

1774. 1775 137 

Lexington and Concord, 
April 19, 1775 .... 138 



Table of Contents 



CHAPTER V 



Independence, 1775-1783 



SEC. PAGE 

140. Material Prosperity, 1775 . 143 

141. Advantages of the Colonists 144 

142. Bunker Hill, 1775 .... 146 

143. Evacuation of Boston, 1776 146 

144. Growth towards Independ- 

ence, 1775, 1776. . . . 148 

145. The State Constitutions, 

1775. 1776 149 

146. Organization of a General 

Government . .' . . .151 

147. The Hessians 152 

148. The Declaration of Inde- 

pendence 153 

149. Campaign of 1776 . . . 157 

150. Campaign of 1777 . . . 157 

151. The Conway Cabal, 1777, 

1778 161 

152. The French Alliance, 1778 162 

153. Lord North's Conciliatory 

Proposals, 1778 , . , . 163 



SEC. PACK 

154. Treason of Charles Lee, 

1778 164 

155. Arnold's Treason, 1779- 

1780 165 

156. The Southern Campaigns, 

1776-178 1 168 

157. The Yorktown Campaign, 

1781 169 

158. Naval Warfare 171 

159. Congress and the Army, 

1775-1782 171 

160. The Newburg Addresses, 

1783 173 

161. Finances of the Revolution 174 

162. The Loyalists 175 

163. Peace Negotiations of 

1782 176 

164. The Treaty of Peace, 1783 179 

165. Problems of Peace . . . 182 



CHAPTER VI 



The Constitution, 1783-1789 



SEC. PAGE 

166. Nationalism and Particu- 

larism 185 

167. Formation of the Articles 

of Confederation . . .186 

168. The Articles of Confedera- 

tion 187 

169. Importance of the Articles 

of Confederation . . . 188 

170. Claims to Western Lands 189 

171. Value of these Claims . . 191 

172. The Land Cessions . . . 192 

173. The National Domain . . 194 

174. Social Progress, 1780-1789 197 

175. Foreign Relations, 1783- 

1789 198 

176. Financial Problems, 1783- 

1786 199 

177. The Critical Period, 1786, 

1787 200 



SEC PACK 

178. Attempts to amend the 

Articles 201 

179. Genesis of the Federal Con- 

vention 202 

180. The Federal Convention, 

1787 203 

181. Nature of the Constitution 205 

182. The Great Compromises . 206 

183. A Government of Checks 

and Balances .... 208 

184. The Legislative Power . . 209 

185. The Supreme Court . . . 210 

186. Political Parties .... 212 

187. Stability of the Constitu- 

tion 213 

188. The President 215 

189. Ratification of the Constitu- 

tion, 1787, 1788 .... 216 



Table of Contents 



XI 



CHAPTER VII 
The Federalist Supremacy, 1789-1800 



SEC. PAGE 

igo. Washington elected Presi- 
dent 225 

191. John Adams elected Vice- 

President 226 

192. Political Tendencies, 1789 227 

193. Washington's Inaugura- 

tion, 1789 230 

194. Organization of the Gov- 

ernment 232 

195. Hamilton's Financial Meas- 

ures 234 

196. The National Capital and 

Assumption 236 

197. The First Slavery Debates, 

1789, 1790 237 

198. The Excise and the Bank, 

1791 239 

199. Rise of the Republican 

Party 241 

200. The Neutrality Proclama- 

tion, 1793 242 



SEC. PAGE 

201. RelationswithGreat Britain, 

1783-1794 244 

202. Jay's Treaty, 1794 . . . 246 

203. Ratification of jay's Treaty, 

1795 247 

204. Relations with Spain and 

France, 1794- 1797 . . 248 

205. Washington's P'arewell Ad- 

dress, 1797 249 

206. Election of John Adams, 

1796 249 

207. Breach with France, 1796- 

1799 250 

208. Alien and Sedition Acts, 

1798 251 

209. Virginia and Kentucky Res- 

olutions, 1798, 1799 . . 254 

210. Treaty with France, 1800 . 256 

211. The Election of 1800 . . 257 

212. The Judiciary Act, 1801 . 259 



CHAPTER VIII 
The Jeffersonian RErunucANs, 1801-1812 



SEC. PAGE 

213. American Ideals, 1800 . . 263 

214. Population in 1800 . . . 264 

215. Analysis of the Population 267 

216. Various Statistics .... 268 

217. Occupations of the People 269 

218. Cotton Culture and Manu- 

facture 270 

219. Slavery 273 

220. Internal Communication . 274 

221. Intellectual Life .... 275 

222. The Federalists and the 

People 276 

223. Jefferson's Inaugural . . 278 

224. The Civil Service .... 280 

225. The Judiciary Department 282 

226. Financial Policy .... 283 

227. The Louisiana Purchase, 

1803 283 

228. Questions arising out of the 

Purchase 285 



SEC. PAGE 

229. The Twelfth Amendment, 

1804 2S7 

230. Burr's Conspiracy and 

Trial, 1804- 1807 . . .288 

231. Attacks on Neutral Trade, 

1800-1808 290 

232. Decrees and Orders, 1806- 

i8ro 291 

233. The Impressment Contro- 

versy, 1793-1807 . . . 292 

234. The Outrage on the Chesa- 

peake, 1807 293 

235. Jefferson's Embargo Pol- 

icy, 1807, 1808 .... 294 

236. Effects of the Embargo . 295 

237. The Non-Intercourse Act, 

1809 296 

238. The Erskine Treaty, 1809 . 297 

239. Declaration of War, 1812 . 298 



Xll 



Table of Contents 



CHAPTER IX 
War and Peace, 1812-1829 



SEC. PAGE 

240. Nature of the Conflict . . 303 

241. Campaigns of 1812-1814 . 305 

242. The British Defeat at New 

Orleans, 1814, 1815 . . 305 

243. The War on the Sea, 1812- 

1815 306 

244. The Privateers .... 309 

245. Negotiations for Peace, 

1812-1814 309 

246. The Treaty of Ghent, 1814 310 

247. The Hartford Convention, 

1814, 1815 311 

248. Results of the War . . . 313 

249. Altered Industrial Condi- 

tions, 1816 314 

250. Early Tariff Legislation, 

1789-1815 315 

251. Growth of Textile Indus- 

tries, 1800-1815 .... 316 

252. Tariff Act of 1816 . . . .316 

253. Monroe's Administrations, 

1817-1825 317 

254. The Policy of Nationaliza- 

tion . , 318 



SEC. PAGE 

255. Relations with Great Brit- 

ain, 1815-1818 .... 320 

256. Relations with Spain, 1810- 

1819 321 

257. The Florida Treaty, 1819 . 321 

258. The Spanish-American 

Colonies, 1808-1822 . . 323 

259. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823 324 

260. The Russian Treaty of 1824 327 

261. Extension of Slave Territory 327 

262. The Missouri Compro- 

mises, 1820, 1821 . . . 329 

263. The Tariff of 1824 . . . 331 

264. The Election of J. Q. 

Adams, 1824, 1825 . . . 332 

265. J. Q. Adams's Administra- 

tion, 1825-1829 . . . 336 

266. Foreign Relations, 1825- 

1829 337 

267. Adams and Georgia, 1825- 

1827 338 

268. The Tariff of Abomina- 

tions, 1828 338 

269. Calhoun's Exposition, 1828 340 

270. Election of 1828 .... 341 



CHAPTER X 
The National Democracy, 1829-1844 



SEC. PAGE 

271. Significance of Jackson's 

Election 345 

272. Theory of Popular Sover- 

eignty 346 

273. Population and Area in 

1830 348 

274. Influence of Slavery . . . 351 

275. Improvements in Trans- 

portation 352 

276. Railroads 354 

277. Other Inventions .... 355 

278. Social Changes .... 355 

279. Education and Religion . 356 

280. The Spoils System, 1829 . 358 

281. Webster and Hayne, 1830 359 

282. Nullification, 1832, 1833 . 363 



SEC. PAGE 

283. The Force Bill . . . .365 

284. The Compromise Tariff, 

1833 36s 

285. The Antislavery Agitation, 

1831-1838 366 

286. Anti-Abolition Sentiment in 

the North, 1833-1837 . 367 

287. Slavery Petitions in Con- 

gress, 1836 368 

288. Change of Sentiment in the 

North, 1837, 1838 . . .369 

289. Foreign Relations, 1829- 

1837 370 

290. Jackson's War on the Bank 371 

291. Removal of the Deposits, 

1833 . . . . . . . .373 



Table of Contents 



xiu 



292. 



293- 
294- 



PAGE 

Distribution of the " Sur- 
plus," 1837 374 

The Specie Circular, 1836 375 
The Independent Treasury 
Act, 1840 376 



PAGE 

377 



295. The Election of 1840 

296. Tyler's Administration, 

1841-1845 379 

297. The Ashburton Treaty, 1842 380 



CHAPTER XI 



SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, 1844-1859 



SEC. PAGE 

298. Necessity for More Slave 

Territory 385 

The Annexation of Texas, 

1845 387 

Mexican War, 1846-1848 . 389 
The Oregon Treaty, 1846 . 391 
The Walker Tariff, 1846 . 393 
California, 1848-1850 . . 395 
The Wilmot Proviso, 1846 397 
The Election of 1848 . . 397 

306. Taylor's Policy, 1849, 1850 399 

307. Compromise of 1850 . . 401 

308. Fugitive Slaves .... 404 

309. Election of 1852 .... 405 



299. 

300. 
301. 
302. 
303- 
304- 
30s- 



SEC, PAGE 

310. The Kansas-Nebraska Act 407 

311. Appeal of the Independent 

Democrats, 1854 . . . 408 

312. Popular Sovereignty . . 409 

313. Struggle for Kansas, 1855- 

1861 411 

314. The Dred Scott Decision, 

1857 416 

315. Lincoln and Douglas, 1858 417 

316. John Brown's Execution, 

1859 418 

317. Helper's Impending Crisis, 

i8S7 420 



CHAPTER XII 



Secession, i86o-i86t 



,EC. PAGE 

318. Introductory 423 

319. Population, i860 .... 424 

320. Distribution of the Popula- 

tion, Area, etc 425 

321. Slave and Free Sections 

Compared 427 

322. Transportation .... 429 

323. Material Prosperity . . . 430 

324. Financial Policy, 1857-1861 432 

325. Mental Activity .... 433 

326. Election of i860 .... 435 



SEC. PAGE 

327. Secession Threatened, No- 

vember, i860 439 

328. Compromise Suggestions . 440 

329. The Crittenden Compro- 

mise 441 

330. Secession of Seven States, 

1860-1861 441 

331. The Underlying Cause of 

Secession 443 

332. Southern Blunders . . . 444 
333- Apathy of the Northerners 445 



CHAPTER XIII 
The Civil War, 1861-1865 



SEC PAGE 

334. Lincoln's Policy, 1861 . . 450 

335. Lincoln's Advisers . . . 451 



336. Uprising of the People, 

April, 1861 452 



XIV 



Table of Contents 



SEC. 

337- 
338. 

339- 
340- 

341. 

342- 
343- 

344- 

34S- 

346. 

347- 
348. 

349- 



350- 
351- 



352. 
353- 



354- 
355- 



PAGE 

The " Border States," 1861 454 
Military Strength of the 
North and South . . . 455 

Numbers 456 

Northern Finances, 1861- 

1865 457 

The National Banking 

System 459 

Increased Taxation . . . 459 
Southern Finances, i85i- 
1865 ....... 460 

The Blockade 461 

Characteristics of the Con- 
flict 463 

Defense of Washington, 

1861 464 

Theater of War in Virginia 465 
The Bull Run Campaign, 

1861 466 

The Contest in the West, 
April, 1 861, to February, 

1862 467 

The Trent Affair, 1861 . . 470 
Capture of New Orleans, 

1862 471 

Shiloh, April, 1862 . . . 473 
The Monitor and the Mer- 

riniac, March, 1862 . . 474 
The Peninsular Campaign, 

March to August, 1862 . 475 
The Second Bull Run Cam- 
paign, August, 1862 . . 477 



SEC. PAGE 

356. The Antietam and Freder- 

icksburg, 1862 .... 478 

357. Campaign in Eastern Ten- 

nessee, 1862 479 

358. Lincoln's Policy as to 

Slavery, 1861-1863 . . 481 

359. The Emancipation Procla- 

mation, 1863 483 

360. The Vicksburg Campaign, 

1863 .484 

361. Chancellorsville, May, 

1863 486 

362. 'Gettysburg, July, 1863 . . 486 

363. Northern Opposition to the 

War 487 

364. Chickamauga and Chatta- 

nooga, 1863 488 

365. The Atlanta Campaign, 

May to July, 1864 . . . 490 

366. Plan of Campaign . . . 491 

367. Sherman and Thomas . . 492 

368. Grant and Lee, 1864 . . . 493 

369. Sheridan's Valley Cam- 

paign, 1864 495 

370. Great Britain and the Con- 

federate Cruisers . . . 495 

371. Lincoln's Re-election, 1864 496 

372. The Surrender at Appo- 

mattox, 1865 497 

373. Assassination of Lincoln . 498 

374. Cost of the War .... 498 



CHAPTER XIV 
Reconstruction, 1865-1877 



SEC. PAGE 

375. Return to Peace Condi- 

tions 501 

376. The Army and the Navy . 502 

377. The War Debt 503 

378. Problems of Reconstruc- 

tion 504 

379. Lincoln's Southern Policy 504 

380. Johnson's Reconstruction 

Policy, 1865 505 

381. The Freedmen 506 



SEC. PACK 

382. Congress and the South . 507 

383. The Freedmen's Bureau . 507 

384. The Fourteenth Amend- 

ment 508 

385. The Reconstruction Acts, 

1867 509 

386. The Tenure of Office Act . 511 

387. Impeachment of President 

Johnson 511 

388. The French in Mexico . . 513 



Table of Contents 



XV 



SEC. 
389. 

390. 

391- 
392. 
393- 
394- 
395- 
396. 



Alaska, St. Thomas, and 

Santo Domingo . . . 513 
Election of 1868 .... 514 
The Fifteenth Amendment 515 
The Blacks and the Whites 515 
The End of Reconstruction 517 
Relations with Great Britain 517 
The Fisheries Dispute . . 518 
The Transcontinental Rail- 
roads 519 



SEC. 

397- 



399- 
400. 



401. 
402. 



PAGE 

Panic of 1873 521 

Corruption in Politics and 

Business 522 

The Election of 1872 . . 523 
Grant's Second Term, 

1873-1877 524 

The Election of 1876 . . 525 
The Whites in Control in 

the South 527 



CHAPTER XV 



National Development, 1877-1898 



SEC. 
403- 

404. 

405- 
406. 
407. 



409- 

410. 
411. 
412. 

413- 



PAGE 

Hayes's Administration, 

1877-1881 529 

The Resumption of Specie 

Payments 530 

The Election of 1880 . . 531 
President Garfield . . . 533 
President Arthur and the 

Civil Service 534 

The Election of 1884 . . . 535 
Cleveland and the Civil 

Service 536 

The Tariff 537 

The Election of 1888 . . . 539 
Harrison's Administration, 

1889-1893 ...... 539 

Oklahoma 541 



SEC 

414. 
415- 

416. 
417. 

418. 
419. 

420. 

421. 

422. 

423- 

424. 



PACK 
542 



The Election of 1892. 

Cleveland's Second Term, 
1893-1897 543 

Labor Troubles, 1894 . . 544 

Venezuela and the Monroe 
Doctrine, 1895 .... 545 

The Election of 1896 . . . 546 

McKinley's First Adminis- 
tration 547 

The Cuban Question, 1807- 

548 



Causes of the Spanish 

War 

The War on the Sea . . 
The Land Campaigns . . 
Conclusion of Hostilities . 



549 

551 
554 
558 



CHAPTER XVI 



The United States in Our Own Times, 189B-1913 



SKC. PAGE 

425. The New Outlook . . . 561 

426. Relations with Cuba . . . 562 

427. The Annexation of Hawaii 563 

428. The Outlying National 

Domain ...... 564 

429. Growth of Cities and Towns 566 

430. Steel and Cotton .... 567 

431. Suburban Development . 568 

432. Organized Labor .... 570 

433. The Election of 1900 . .571 



SEC. PAGE 

434. Assassination of President 

McKinley, 1901 .... 571 

435. Intervention in Foreign 

Affairs 573 

436. Alaska and its Resources . 574 

437. The Panama Canal . . . 576 

438. Progress of the Panama 

Canal 577 

439. The Election of 1904 . . . 579 
4^|o. Roosevelt's Second Term . 580 



XVI 



Table of Contents 



SEC. 
441. 
442. 

443- 
444. 

445- 
446. 

447- 
448. 

449- 



The Election of 1908 
The Aldrich Tariff . . 
Reciprocity and Arbitra 

tion 

The Regulation of Corpo 

rations 

The Election of 1912 
Changing Tendencies . 
Woman Suffrage . . . 
Direct Primaries . . . 
Direct Legislation . . 



PAGE 

.581 
. 582 

.583 

• 584 
•585 
. 586 
.587 

• 588 

• 589 



SEC. PAGE 

450. The Initiative 590 

451. The Referendum .... 591 

452. The Recall 593 

453. Reform of City Govern- 

ments 594 

454. The Sixteenth Amendment 596 

455. The Seventeenth Amend- 

ment 597 

456. Population, 1910 .... 598 

457. The American Nation in 

1910 598 



APPENDIX 



Declaration of Independence . . 
constituiton of the united states 
Index . . . . 



MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



COLORED MAPS 

NOS. 

I. The United States, showing forms of land . facing 

II. The Colonies in 1763, from Bell's North Avterica 

III. Negotiations of 1782, from Fitzmaurice's Shelburne 

IV. Territorial Acquisitions, 1783- 1853 
V. The United States in 1800 .... 

VI. The United States in 1830 .... 

VII. The United States in 1850 .... 

VIII. The United States in i860 . 

IX. The United States in 1890 .... 

The World, with especial reference to the United States 

and dependent territories . . . inside affront cover 

The United States in 1910 . . . " " back " 



143 
179 

185 
263 

345 
385 
423 
529 



MAPS IN THE TEXT 

Lines of equal temperature, annual, August 

Average annual rainfall ...... 

Behaim's globe (1492), from Ruge's Chrisioph Coluinhtis 

La Cosa's map (1500), from Ruge's Kartographie 

Bartholomew Columbus's map (before 1502) 

The Cabot map (1544) 

Routes of the discoverers . 

Virginia charter, 1606 

Virginia charter, 1609 

New England and Maryland charters 

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Carolana and Carolina charters 

Pennsylvania charter 

Proclamation of 1763 

The Revolutionary War in the North 

The Revolutionary War in the South 

The United States, 1783 . 

Claims and cessions .... 

Election of 1796 .... 

Election of 1800 . . . . .' 



PAGE 

3.4 
6 

17 
20 
21 
22 
24 
43 
45 
50 
57 
81 

98 
159 
167 
180 
191 
250 
258 



XVlll 



Maps and Illustrations 



Movement of center of population, 1 790-1900 

Density of population, 1800 

The United States, 1803 . 

The United States, 181 9 . 

Election of 1824 

Election of 1828 

Density of population, 1830 

Election of 1840 

Election of 1844 

The United States, 1845 ■ 

The United States, 1853 . 

Election of 1848 

Election of 1852 

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 

Election of 1856 

Density of population, 1S60 

Election of i860 

The United States, 1861, showing Slave and Fi 

Rivers and railroads of the vSouth 

Civil War in the East 

Civil War in the West 

Election of 1880 

Election of 1884 

Density of population, 1900 



Soil 



264 
267 
284 
322 
334 
341 
351 
378 
388 
391 
396 
398 
407 
409 

415 
426 

437 
442 
468 
476 
4S0 
531 
535 
569 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Abraham Lincoln, from a photograph by Brady, i860 Frontispiece 

Toscanelli, from Italian Columbian Commission's Report, I .16 

Cosmographia' Introductio, facsimile of passage .... 23 

Magellan, from Hakluyt Society's Magellan volume ... 25 
Cartier, after an engraving of the portrait at St. Malo . . 31 

John Hawkins, from Hakluyt Society's Hawkins's Voyages . },'i, 

Champlain, from an engraving of the Moncornet portrait . . 41 

The Pilgrim Compact, facsimile of Bradford's manuscript . . 54 

John Winthrop, from Life and Letters of John Winthrop, by per- 
mission of Little, Brown & Co. ...... 58 

William Penn, from an ivory model by Bevan . ' . . .80 

Sir Edmund Andros, from an old engraving .... 87 

Massachusetts currency, 1690, facsimile of original ... 90 
A block house, from Anburey's Travels ..... 94 

Sir William Pepperrell, from Parsons's Life of Pepperell, by permis- 
sion of Little, Brown & Co. . . . . . -95 

Bienville, from an old engraving ,,.... 96 



Maps and Illustrations 



XIX 



f Little, 



iginal 



of the 



General Wolfe, from an old engraving 

James Otis 

Patrick Henry ...... 

New Jersey currency, 1763, facsimile of original 

Samuel Adams, after a portrait by Copley 

The Hancock House, from an original engraving 

Faneuil Hall, 1776, from an original engraving . 

Thomas Hutchinson, after Truman's portrait 

Tea Handbill, from an early engraving 

Joseph Warren, after a portrait by Copley, by permission o 
Brown & Co. ...... 

George Washington, after a portrait by C. W. Peale 

Thomas Paine's American Crisis, facsimile of part of tirst page 

Declaration of Independence, facsimile of Jefferson's or 
draft . . . • 

General Stark, from Stark's Memoir of John Stark 

General Steuben, after a portrait in New York City Hall 

General Wayne, after a sketch by Trumbull, by permission 
Lippincott Company ...... 

Lafayette, from an engraving by Ethion 

Nathan Hale's birthplace, from Stuart's Life of Hale . 

General Greene, after a portrait by Trumbull 

Virginia currency, 1777, facsimile of original 

Continental currency, 1775, facsimile of original 

Benjamin Franklin, after a portrait by Martin . 

John Dickinson, after a portrait Ijy C. W. Peale 

General G. R. Clark, after a portrait by Jarvis . 

Daniel Boone, after a portrait by Harding 

Fitch's steamboat, facsimile of cut in Columbian Magazine 

Gouverneur Morris, from a contemporary engraving . 

Stratford House, from a contemporary engraving 

Richard Henry Lee, after a portrait by Chappel 

Monticello, Jefferson's residence, from a contemporary print 

George Washington, 1785, after a mask made from the living face 

A room at Mount A^ernon ..... 

Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, after a portrait by R. Earl, by permis- 
sion of D. Appleton & Co. .... 

Alexander Hamilton, from a miniature by Robertson 

John Jay, after a portrait by Stuart .... 

Mrs. John Jay, from a contemporary print 

Mrs. John Adams, after a portrait by Schessele 

John Adams, after a portrait by Stuart 

Timothy Pickering, from Pickering's Life of Pickering, by per 
mission of Little, Brown & Co., and Henry Pickering, Esq. 



1786 



PAGE 

97 
H3 
114 

"5 
125 
126 
130 
131 



145 
147 
152 

155 
158 
161 

163 
165 
166 
168 
172 

174 
177 
187 
190 
193 
195 
204 
218 
219 
228 
231 
232 

234 
235 
246 

247 

252 

253 

257 



XX 



Maps and Illustrations 



Robert Fulton, after a portrait by A. G. de Maury 

Eli Whitney, after a portrait by King .... 

Thomas Jefferson, from an engraving by W. HoU 
Albert Gallatin, from engraving in Adams's Gallatin, by permis- 
sion of the Lippincott Company and A. H. Gallatin, Esq. 
John Marshall, after a portrait by Henry Inman 
Theodosia Burr, after an engraviug by H. Wright Smith 
James Madison, after a portrait by Stuart . 
Mrs. James Madison, after a portrait by Stuart 
James Monroe, after a portrait by J. Vanderlyn 
John Quincy Adams, from an engraving by J. W. Paradise 
Henry Clay, after a portrait by Charles King 
Andrew Jackson, after a portrait by Longacre . 
Backwoodsman, from Basil Hall's Forty Sketches, 1829 
Stagecoach, from Basil Hall's Forty Sketches, 1829 
Benjamin Silliman, by permission of the Eclectic Company 
Benjamin Peirce, by permission of D. Appleton & Co. 
Asa Gray ......... 

Joseph Henry, from a photograph .... 

James D. Dana ....... 

Webster's house at MarshHeld, from Webster's Works 
Daniel Webster, from a photograph of Powers's bust 
John C. Calhoun, from a contemporary engraving 
Samuel Houston, from a contemporary engraving 
Winfield Scott, after a daguerreotype by Gurney 
Cyrus H. McCormick, after a portrait by Cabanel 
Sutter's mill, from a contemporary engraving 
William Lloyd Garrison, from a contemporary print 
Harriet Beecher Stowe, from a contemporary engraving 
Sumner and Longfellow, from a contemporary print 
John Brown, from a contemporary engraving 
Francis Parkman ...... 

Jared Sparks, after a portrait by Sully 

George Bancroft, after a photograph 

Wilham H. Prescott, from a photograph 

Washington Irving, from a portrait by Martin 

William C. Bryant, by permission of D. Appleton & Co. 

John G. Whittier, by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co 

Ralph Waldo Emerson, by permission of Houghton, Mifflin 

Oliver Wendell Holmes ..... 

J. R, Lowell 

Wendell Phillips 

James Buchanan ...... 

Handbill "To Arms ! " 1861, facsimile of original 



&Co 



PAGE 
270 
271 

277 



Maps and Illustrations 



XXI 



Certificate of Deposit, facsimile of original 

Confederate States Almanac, 1864, title-page 

Admiral Farragut 

General Sherman 

General Grant . 

General Sheridan 

General Thomas 

General Hancock 

Libby Prison 

President Johnson receiving the news of h 

The Washington Monument 

Joining of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific 

Horace Greeley 

Rutherford B. Hayes 

J. A. Garfield . 

Grover Cleveland 

Benjamin Harrison 

Admiral Dewey 

W. T. Sampson 

W. S. Schley . 

Battleship lo'wa in Dry Dock 

In the Trenches before Santiago 

Battleship Oregon 

Nelson A. Miles 

Wesley Merritt 

W. R. Shafter 

A Street in Honolulu 

Brooklyn Bridge 

William McKinley 

Theodore Roosevelt 

Valdez, Alaska 

Culebra Cut 

William H. Taft 

Woodrow Wilson 



s acquittal 



Railroads 



PAGE 

460 
472 
489 
489 

489 
489 

489 

494 
512 

514 
520 

524 
525 
533 
537 
539 
550 
551 
551 
552 
553 
554 
555 
556 
557 
567 
564 
576 
572 
575 
578 
581 
585 



SCHOOL LIBRARIES 

(The price of each book is given in parentheses. These figures are 
taken from the publishers' trade lists; often considerable reductions 
can be obtained.) 

For the teacher: Channing, Hart and Turner's Guide to the Study 
and Reading of American History (cited in the body of the work as 
Guide to American History) . Boston: Ginn. ($2.50.) 

THE SMALLEST LIBRARY 

Johnston's American Politics (successive editions bring the matter 
down to date). New York : Holt. (90 cents.) 

Hart's Epochs of American History. New York : Longmans. 
(3 vols., $1.25 each.) 

Dodge's Bird^s-Eye Viezu of our Civil War. Boston: Houghton. 
($1.00.) 

D. C. Heath's Smaller Outline Maps of the United States were pre- 
pared by Professor Hart and the present writer for work contemplated 
in the Suggestive Questions. 



Hart and Channing's American History Leaflets. 36 numbers. New 

York: Simmons. (10 cents each.) 
School histories of England and of Prance. 

A GOOD LIBRARY 

The books already mentioned and the following works : 

'ii\gg\n?,ovL's Larger History. New York : Harper's. (^3.50.) 
Walker's Making of the Nation. New York: Scribner's. ($1.25.) 
l^oAge's English Colonies. New York : Harper's. ($3- 50.) 
Y{\nsda\e!s American Government. Werner School Book Co. ($1.25.) 

xxii 



School Libraries xxiii 

Fiske's New England ($2.00); American Revolution (2 vols. $4.00); 
Critical Period {$2.00) . Boston: Houghton. 

Vzrkma.n's, Pioneers. Boston: Little. ($1.50.) 

Cha^nmng'?, History of the United States, No\s.\-l\\ (to 1789). New 
York: Macmillan. ($2.50 each.) 

SiSinyvooA's Presidential Elections. Boston: Houghton. {$i.z^o.) 

Taussig's Tariff History. New York : Putnam. (^1.25.) 

?icho\x\tr^s United States. New York : Dodd. (5 vols. $17.25.) 

Rhodes's United States. New York: Macmillan. (7 vols. $2.50 
each.) 

" American Statesmen " (Boston : Houghton) : Lodge's Washington 
and Webster, Morse's y. Q. Adams and Lincoln., '?y\xn-\\-\ftx\ Jackson, 
($1.25 each.) 

" Makers of America " (New York : Dodd) : Wendell's Cotton Mather, 
Sumner's Robert Morris and Hamilton, Schouler's Jefferson. 
($1.00 each.) 

Y{\g<g\\\i,ovi% American Explorers. New Y'ork : Longmans. ($1.20.) 

Old South Leaflets. Boston : Directors of Old South Lectures. 

MacDonald's Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606- 
j8q8. New York: Macmillan. (i vol. $1.75.) 

Hart's American History told by Contemporaries. New York : Mac- 
millan. (4 vols. $2.00 each. Cited in this work as Contempo- 
raries.^ 

Histories of the state and of the town in which the school is situated. 

Gardiner's Students Llistory of England, Green's Short LListory of the 
English People, Higgiiison and Channing's English History for 
Americans, Duruy's LListory of Lrance. 



A VERY GOOD LIBRARY 

The books already mentioned and the following works: 

Winsor's Narrative and Critical History (8 vols. $5.50 each) and his 

Columbus {$i,.oo). Boston: Houghton. 
\\z.'!.\.\ American Nation, A LListory . New York : Harpers. (27 vols. 

$2.00 each.) 
Fisher's Struggle for American Lndependcnce. Philadelphia: Lippin- 

cott. (2 vols. $4.00.) 



xxiv School Libraries 

Lalor's Cydopadia of Political Science. Chicago. 

McLaughlin and Hart's Cyclopedia of American Government. New 

York: Appleton. (3 vols.) 
Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature, 13 vols., 
New York (subscription) (contains many selections from the 
books mentioned at the beginning of chapters under " Illustra- 
tive Material"). 
Larned's History for Ready Reference. (5 vols. $5.00 each.) 
Clarke's Anti-Slavery Days. 1 These books are out of print, but 

McCuUoch's JlJeii and ALeasures. \ may be obtained from dealers in 
Quincy's Figures of the Past. J second-hand books. 

Maclay's United States Navy. New York : Appleton. (2 vols. $7.00.) 
Gardiner's Puritan Revolution, Lecky's England {Yo\s. IH and IV). 

Rose's Revolutionary Era, or Stephens's French Revolution. 
Fiske's Civil Government. Boston: Houghton. (^I.oo.) 
G. W. Allen's Naval History of the American Revolution. Boston : 

Houghton. (2 vols. ^3.00.) 
Bryce's American Commonwealth, abridged edition. New York : 

Macmillan. ($1.75.) 
MacDonald's Docu?nents Lllustrative of the History of the United States. 

New York: Macmillan. 3 vols. ($2.25 each.) 
The constitution of your state and local documents. 



A useful work is J. D. Richardson's ALessages and Papers of the 
Presidents. Current numbers of the Congressional Record, and the 
Manuals of the two Houses may also be obtained through Congress- 
men. The Land Office map — the best map for school use — can be 
bought for one dollar, and other maps, as the beautiful contour map, 
can be secured through members of Congress. 

Most of the books mentioned in this work will be found in the 
Public Library of the city or town in which the school is situated, and 
arrangements can often be made for the special use of particular 
books. 



IMPORTANT DATES 

The more important dates are printed in bold-faced type. With each 
date the student should associate as many events as possible. It is 
better to learn a few dates correctly than it is to remember many dates 
incorrectly. Another list may be found in the Guide, p. 157. 

1492. Columbus (Discovery of America). 

1497- John Cabot (Discovery of North America). 

15 1 3. Ponce de Leon (Florida) and Balboa (Pacific). 

1524. Verrazano and Gomez (Atlantic coast). 

1534. Cartier (the French in the St. Lawrence). 

1539-1542. De Soto and Coronado (the Spaniards in the United 

States). 
1588. Defeat of the Armada (Beginnings of English Colonization). 
1604. Acadia (the French in the North). 
1607. Virginia (the First Permanent English- American Colony). 

1 61 9. Representative Government and Slavery in Virginia. 

1620. The Pilgrims at Plymouth (the First Permanent English 

Colony in the North). 
1630. The "Great Emigration to Massachusetts." 
1632. Maryland (the Calverts and Toleration). 

1635. Connecticut (Constitutional Development). 

1636. Roger Williams (Separation of Church and State). 
1643. New England Confederation. 

1649. Maryland Toleration Act. 
1664. English Conquest of New Netherland. 
1676. Bacon's Rebellion and King Philip's War. 
1689. The " Glorious Revolution " in America. 
1 70 1. Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges. 

XXV 



xxvi Important Dates 



1713 



The Treaty of Utrecht. 



1754. Albany Plan of Union. 
1763. Peace of Paris and King's Proclamation. 
1765. The Stamp Act (Henry's Resolves). 
1767. The Townshend Acts (colonial union). 

1774. Massachusetts Government Act and First Continental Con- 

gress. 

1775. Lexington and Concord. 

1776. Declaration of Independence. 
1781. Articles of Confederation. 

1783. Treaty of Peace (Boundaries, Debts, etc.). 
1787. The Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance. 
1794. Jay's Treaty (Foreign Relations and Party Organization). 
1 798-1 799. Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. 
1803. Louisiana Purchase. 

1812-1815. War with England (Neutral Commerce and Impress- 
ment). 
1814. Hartford Convention. 
1820. Missouri Compromise. 
1823. The Monroe Doctrine. 
1832. The Nullification Episode. 
1845. Annexation of Texas. 
1 846-1 848. Mexican War. 
1850. Compromise on Slavery. 
1854. Kansas-Nebraska Act. 
1857. The Dred Scott Case. 
1861-1865. The Civil War. 
1863. Emancipation Proclamation. 
1867. Reconstruction Act. 
1883. Civil Service Reform. 
1898. Spanish War. 



A PERSPECTIVE OF UNITED STATES HISTORY 



Discovery and 
Exploration, 
I 000-1600. 
Ch. I. 



Colonization, 
I 600-1 760. 
Chs.IIandlll. 



(The numbers in parentheses refer to sections of the text) 

\ Northmen, 1000 (10). 
Discovery OF j Columbus, 1492 (13-15). 
America, | John Cabot, 1497 (16). 

1000-1492. [ Americus Vespucius (17). 

Proof that f Balboa, 1513 (18). 
America was | Magellan, 1520 (19). 
not Asia, 

1513-1520. [ r Ponce dc Leon, 1513 (20) 

Spanish, J Cortez, 1519-21 (21). 

j Coronado, 1540-42 (25). 

L De Soto, 1539-43 (26). 

fVerrazano, 1524 (23). 

French. \ ?f "7' I534-4I (27). 

Ine Huguenots, 1555-65 
I (28, 29). 
f The Cabots, 1498 (16). 
I Hawkins and Drake, 1562- 
EngUsh. \ 80 (30-32). 

I The Ralegh Colonists, 
L 1584-90 (33). 
. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588 (34). 

( The Southivest, 1540-1760 (25, 26). 
j Florida, 1565-1760 (29). 
f Acadia, 1604 (35). 

\ Quebec and the St. Lawrence, 1608 (35). 
I Louisiana, 1699 (104). 



Explora- 
tions, 1500- 
1600. 



Decline of 
Spain's Sea- 
power, 1550- 
1600. 

Spanish, 
1540 1760. 

French, 
1604-1760. 

Dutch and 

SWEDp-.S, 
I609-1664. 



New Netherland, 1609-64 (74, 75). 
New Sweden 1638-55 (76). 



Enclish, 
1607- 1760. 



Chesapeake Bay Colo- 
nies, 1607-32 (37, 
39-50, 93-95). 



English Con- 
quests, 1664- 
1763. 



J Virginia, 1607. 
\ Maryland, 1632. 

I Plymouth, 1620. 

Massachusetts, 1630. 
) Connecticut and New 

Haven, 1635-38. 
I Providence and Rhode 
[ Island, 1636. 

\ The Carolinas, 1663. 
( Georgia, 1732. 

f New York, 1664. 
-I New Jersey, 1664. 
I. Pennsylvania, 1681. 
The Glorious Revolution, 1688-89 (97-99). 
f New Netherland and Neiv Siveden, 1664(84). 

Acadia and Canada, , „ ^ _ . 
1 1763(103,105. j Treaty of 1763. 



Neiv England, 1620-38 
(51-73,79-83). 



Southern Colonies, 
1663-1732 (91,92, 
100,101). 

Middle Colonies, 1664- 
81 (84,90). 



106). 



Proclamation of 1763. 



A Perspective of United States History 



Divergent 
Theories on 
Constitution 
OF British 
Empire, 1760. 



Attempts to 
enforce 
British Ideas, 
1761-1775. 



Interco- 
lonial Union, 
1754-1774- 



Independ- 
ence, 1775- 
1783. 



Articles of 
Confedera- 
tion, 178 1- 
1788. 



The Consti- 
tution, 1787. 



Colonial, 1760 (116- 
118,122,124,130). 



British, 1760 (122, 
123). 

Constitulional Questions 
hivolved in Colonial 
Resistance 
(116-126). 

Exercise by Great 
Britain of Taxing 
Power (127-129, 
131). 

New England Confed- 
erates, 1643 (72,73). 

Congresses, 1754-75 
(107,125,137). 

Extra-legal Committees, 
1770-75 (133, 135, 
137,146,166). 



Personal Union through 

King. 
Represented in Colonial 

Legislatures. 
Rights of Englishmen. 
Supremacy of Parliament. 
Legislative Union. 

Writs of Assistance, 1761. 
Parson's Cause, 1763. 
Declaratory Act, 1766. 
Gaspee Inquiry, 1772. 
Repressive Laws, 1774. 
Stamp Act, 1765. 
Townshend Duties, 1768. 
Enforcement of Navigation 
Acts, 1761-75. 

Albany Congress, 1754. 

Stamp Act Congress, 1765. 

Continental Congress, 
1774-75- 

Committees of Corre- 
spondence, 1770-72. 

American Association, 
1775- 



State Constitutions, 1776-80 (145). 
General Government, 1775-83 (146). 
Declaration of hidependence, 1776 (148). 
Acknowledgment of Independence, lyS^ (152, 
164). 

Formatiott, \T]S~71 (167). 
Ratification, 1777-81 (170-172). 



163. 



Form of Government 
(168.169). 

The Criticnl Period 
(174-177). 

Ordinance of i']8-j 
(173). 



Formation (178-180). 



Form of Government 
(181,183-188). 

Ratification, 1781-88 
(189). 

Interpretation (186). 



\ Taxation. 

/ Foreign Relations. 

( Repudiation. 

( Civil War. 

f Government of Territories. 

\ Slavery prohibited. 

[ Fugitive Slave Provision. 

Genesis of Federal Con- 
vention. 

The Convention, 1787. 

Sources of the Constitu- 
tion. 

The Compromises. 

The Legislative Power. 

Supreme Court. 

The President. 

Opposition to Ratificatioa 
First Ten Amendments. 
Strict Construction. 
Doctrine of Implied 
Powers. 



A Perspective of United States History 



XXIX 



Contest be- 
tween Federal 
Authority and 
States' Rights 
— accentuated 
by Contest 
over Slavery, 
1789-1865. 
Chs. VII-XIII. 



Establish- 
ment OF 
Federal 
Authority, 
1789-1801. 



Establish- 
ment OF 
National 
Democracy, 
1801-1841. 



Contest over 

Slavery, 

1841-1865. 



George Washington, 
1789-97 (190-205). 



John Adams, 1797-1801, 
(206-212). 



Thomas yefferson, iSoi- [ 
1809 (222-236). / 

yames Madison, 1809- 
17 (237-252). 



yames Alonroe, 1817-25 
(253-263). 



yohn Quincy Adams, 
1825-29 (264-270). 



Andrew yackson, 1829- 
37 (271.272,280- 
293). 



Maj-tin Van Buren, 
1837-41 (294-295). 

William H. Harrison 

and yohn Tyler, 1841- 

45 (296-299). 
yames A'. Polk, 1845-49 

(299-305). 
Zachary Taylor and 

Millard Fillmore, 

1849-53 (306-309). 
Franklin Pierce, 1853- 

57 (309-313). 
yames Buchanan, 1857- 

61 (313-317, 326- 

333). 

Abrahcim Lincoln, 1861- 
65 (334-374). 



Organization of the Gov- 
ernment. 
Formation of Parties. 
Neutrality Proclamation, 

1793- 
Jay's Treaty, 1794. 

Conflict with France, I798« 

99. 
Virginia and Kentucky 

Resolutions, 1798-99. 
" Revolution of 1800." 

Louisiana Purchase, 1803. 
Rights of Neutrals. 

War of 1812. 
Rise of Manufactures. 
Beginning of Protection, 
1816. 

Nationalization. 

Florida Purchase, 1819. 

Missouri Compromise, 
1821. 

Monroe Doctrine, 1823. 

Tariff of 1824. 

Contest with Georgia. 

Panama Congress. 

Tariff of Abominations, 
1828. 

Spoils System. 

Popular Sovereignty. 

Rising Power of the West. 

Nullification, 1833. 

War on the Bank. 

Distribution of the Sur- 
plus. 

Panic of 1837. 

Independent Treasury Act, 



i Annexation of Texas, 1845, 
Mexican War, 1846-48, 
Walker Tariff, 1846. 
I Oregon Treaty, 1846. 

Wilmot Proviso, 1846. 
I Compromise of 1850. 

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 

1854. 
Struggle for Kansas. 
Dred Scott Decision, 1857, 
{ Secession, 1860-61. 
More Secession, 1861. 
War for the Union, 1861- 

65- 
Emancipation, 1863, 1865 



XXX 



A Perspective of United States History 



National 
Development, 
1865-1913. 
Clis. XIV- 
XVI. 



Political Re- 
adjustment, 
1865-1876 
(375-402). 



Industrial 

UKVELOI'MENT, 

1877-1898 
(403-424). 



Social 
Change, 
1898-1913 
(425-457). 



Andrew Johnson, 1865- 

69. 
Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-77. 
Rutherford B. Hayes, 

1877-81. 
James A. Garfield and 

Chester A. Arthur, 

1881-85. 
Grover Cleveland, 

1885-89. 
Benjamin Harrison, 

1889-93. 
Grover Cleveland, 

1893-97- 
William McKinley, 

1897-1901. 
Theodore Roosevelt, 

1901-09. 
William H. Taft, 

1909-13. 
Woodrow Wilson, 

1913- 



Reconstruction, 1865-76. 
Impeachment, 1868. 
Civil Service Reform. 
Disputed Election, 1876. 



Civil Service Reform. 



McKinley Tariff, 1890. 
Sherman Silver Law, 1890. 

Repeal of Silver Law, 1893. 

Spanish War, 1898. 

The United States 

a World Power. 
Prosecution of 

the Trusts. 



SPECIMEN DIGEST 



A Century of 

Colonial 

History. 



■ New Era in Coloniza- 
tion. 



Massachusetts. 



The Colonies 
DURING Res- 
toration 
Period, 1660- 



The Colonies 
under the 
English 
Whigs, 1688- 
1760. 



Clarendon and his colonial 
policy; the Navigation 
Acts. 

The Puritans and the 
Quakers ; the English 
government and Massa- 
chusetts ; Declaration ol 
Rights, 1661 ; the Com- 
mission of 1664. 

Charters of Connecticut, 1662 ; aiid of Rhode Island, 

1663. 
Conquest of New Netherland, 1664. 
New Jersey, 1664. 

{ William Penn ; bound- 
Pennsylvania. \ aries ; Penn and the 

I, Indians ; government. 

The Carolina charters ; 
settlement ; founding of 
Charleston ; the Funda- 
mental Constitutions. 

Grievances of the Vir- 
ginians ; Bacon's Re- 
bellion. 

Overthrow of Massachu- 
setts' charter, 1684 ; the 
Stuart Tyranny in New 
England ; the Glorious 
Revolution in America, 



The Carolinas. 



Virginia. 



Constitutional Struggle. 



Constitutional St nig- 
gles. 

Georgia, 1732. 



Expulsion of the 
French. 



Policy of the new govern- 
ment ; the Carolinas ; 
constitutional progress. 

Early French and Indian 
Wars, 1690-1748 ; settle- 
ment of Louisiana, 1699; 
expulsion of the French, 
1754-63 ; Treaty and 
Proclamation of 1763 ; 
Albany Plan, 1754. 



General View of Colonial conditions in 1760. 




30 



^;--..A , ! ^r 



U ^-^ STAKED^/ V -~ 



> 



x: 



EXPLANATION OF COLORS 



Red represeDts the 
valley lowlands of 
the Pacific slope. 



SCALE OF MILES, 




^ 



115 



110 



105 



Longitude 



100 



No. I. The United States, showincj 
After a man by J. W. PowelH 




MS OF Land and Principal Rivers 
Uional Geogratkic Magazine 



THE UNITED STATES 

INTRODUCTION 

THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Shaler in Winsor's America, IV, pp. i-xxx, 
especially pp. xx-xxx. 

Special Accounts. — * Shaler in his Utiited States, I, chs. i-iii, 
vii-ix ; Brigham's Geographic Influences in American History ; 
Scrapie's American History aitd its Geographic Conditions. 

Sources and Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 30- 
32, 96. 

Maps. — United States Geological Survey, United States Relief 
Map and Contour Map. Wall Map : United States Land Office, 
Map of the United States. 

THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES 

I. Geography and History. — The life of a nation depends influence of 
on its moral and mental make-up and on the material oppor- geography 
tunities with which nature has surrounded it. In the United °" '^ °^' 
States the American people found opportunities for develop- 
ment such as no other country of equal size possesses. 
Since 1800 the steamboat, the railroad, the electric car, and 
the automobile have done much to overcome the natural 
obstacles offered by distance, by mountains, and by rivers. At 
this moment, the markets of the world are more accessible 
to the wheat grower of South Dakota than they were to the 
farmer of central New York in 1820. The discoveries of 
modern scientists have enabled mankind to use fertile soils 
and deposits of copper and iron and other minerals to greater 
advantage than ever before ; but so far science has not in- 

B I 



The Land and its Resources 



I§2 



Climate and 
civilization. 



Europe and 
America 
compared. 
Shaler's 
United States, 
I. 9. 23- 



Extreme heat 
and cold in 
America. 



creased or decreased the rainfall of a country or moderated 
a climate so far as to affect agriculture. This is important 
because an excess of cold or an absence of moisture for- 
bids the best development of mankind. 

2 . Temperature of America and of Europe. — Looking 
at the maps on the following pages it appears that those por- 
tions of Europe which have been the seats of the highest 
civilizations are all situated between the lines of average an- 
nual temperature of 40° and 70° above zero. The winter 
temperature of these countries is between 20° and 60° and 
the summer between 50° and 80° above zero on the Fahren- 
heit scale. These countries are Norway, Sweden, Denmark, 
Russia, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Holland, 
France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. 

Turning now to the United States, a glance shows that 
these conditions are not exactly reproduced. The country 
enjoys about the same annual temperature as western Europe, 
but the winters are much colder and the summers are much 
warmer. Moreover, the Hues of annual and winter temperature 
turn sharply to the southward as they cross the Atlantic Ocean ; 
but the summer lines pursue a more direct western course and 
some of them even turn northwardly. These facts show that 
the most available portions of eastern North America lie far 
to the south of the corresponding portions of Etiropean lands. 
The Straits of Belle Isle and the southeastern end of Labra- 
dor are in about the same latitude as London and Berlin, 
but the winters of Labrador are immeasurably severer than 
those of England and Germany. On the other hand the 
summers of Europe and America resemble one another much 
more closely, for in suminer the climate of the coast of Maine 
is not unhke that of southern France which is in nearly the 
same latitude. It is in this way that one accounts for the 
favorable reports of early voyagers, who were here in the 
summer, and the failure of settlements that were made in 
consequence ; for the settlers had to face the harsh tem- 
perature of winter. Moreover, these maps give only average 
temperatures ; they do not show the extremes of heat and 



§3] 



Temperature of the United States 



cold which are much greater in America than in Europe. 

Savannah in Georgia and Cadiz in Spain have about the 

same average winter temperature ; but the actual climate is 

very different, for frosts sometimes occur at Savannah, but 

never at Cadiz. The difference in the winter climate of the Cause of the 

two sides of the North Atlantic is due to the westerly winds difference in 

which sweep over North America from the Rocky Mountains, 

and to the great ocean current known as the Gulf Stream 




100 LONGITUDE 80 WEST 60 FROM 40 GREENWICH g* 



Lines of equal temperature, annual 



that carries the heat of American tropical regions away from 
our eastern seaboard and gives it to the countries of west- 
ern Europe. 

3. Temperature of the United States. — On the western 
coast of North America, the climatic conditions are much 
more Hke those of European lands. The lines of equal The Pacific 
temperature as they approach the Pacific shore spread out coast. 
to a very marked extent. Thus the line of 40° crosses the 
St. Lawrence River near Quebec, runs along the northern 
shore of Lake Superior, then turns northwestwardly, reach- 
ing the Pacific Ocean near Sitka, Alaska. It follows from 



The Land and its Resources 



[§3 



Climate of 
the interior. 



this that the lands of western Canada and southern Alaska 
are much more suited to human habitation than those of 
eastern Quebec and Labrador which lie at the same distance 
from the equator. 

The cUmatic conditions of the interior of the two conti- 
nents are very different. The Rocky Mountains prevent 
the warm winds of the Pacific from moderating the climate 
of the interior, but no such mountain barrier prevents the 
Gulf Stream from warming European lands. It follows 




100 LONGITUDE 80 WEST 60 FROM 40 GREENWICH 20 



Extremes of 
temperature. 



Lines of equal temperature, August 

from this that the extremes of temperature in the interior of 
North America are even greater than on the eastern sea- 
board. Cold winds from the Rockies and from the Arctic 
sweep over the plains and produce great intensity of cold. 
In the summer time, hot winds blow from the south and 
raise the temperature rapidly and greatly. The effect of 
these cold and warm " waves " is very great. Sometimes 
the mercury is frozen in Wisconsin and Michigan, and in 
Texas the thermometer has fallen fifty-four degrees in 
eighteen hours. On the other hand, in the midst of a hot 



§4] 



Rainfall 



5 



" wave," in the summer time, the thermometer often goes as 
high as one hundred degrees in Iowa and in Nebraska. It 
follows that in the region stretching from the St. Lawrence 
to the Gulf of Mexico agricultural conditions prevail that in 
the Old World are associated with the countries extending 
from the North Cape to the Desert of Sahara. In America 
each group of colonies and states has had its own industries, 
habits of living, and mode of thought. From the beginning, 
the American people has been divided into sections and 
this fact has, to a great extent, determined the course of the 
political history of the nation. 

4. Rainfall. — The temperature of a country determines 
in great measure what its agricultural produce shall be ; 
Indian corn demands a good deal of heat, and cotton will 
not thrive without a greater intensity of heat, and both 
plants are peculiarly sensitive to frosts. Equally important 
is the rainfall. If there is too much rain, the cotton plant 
becomes so choked with weeds that it will not grow at all ; 
but if it does not have abundant moisture, it will not thrive. 
On the other hand, corn absorbs moisture from the air and 
will grow in dry seasons when other plants perish. Twenty 
inches of average annual rainfall are essential to profitable 
agriculture, although some important plants will thrive on 
less, provided it is well distributed. Unfortunately as the 
average rainfall decreases below twenty-five inches the vari- 
ation in the precipitation increases out of all proportion to 
the amount. Five inches of rainfall, more or less, would 
make little difference in a country where the average annual 
rainfall was as much as thirty inches ; it might be fatal to a 
year's crops in regions where the rainfall is twenty inches. 
Lands where the annual rainfall is below twenty inches are 
suited to grazing, but below ten inches vegetation practically 
ceases. On the other hand, a rainfall much exceeding fifty 
inches is more than most food plants suited to the temperate 
zone can bear ; but a few plants as rice and the sugar cane 
demand a large amount of moisture, even as much as sixty 
inches of average annual rainfall. 



Results of 
climatic con- 
ditions. 



Effects of 
temperature 
and of rain- 
fall. 



Importance 
of amount 
and distribu« 
tion of rain. 



The Land and its Resources 



[§S 



Distribution The examination of the map showing the average annual 

of the rainfall, rainfall of the United States tells one that the country east 

of the one hundredth meridian enjoys abundant rainfall ; 




Arid lands. 
Shaler's 
United States , 
I. 17- 



Necessity of 



Average annual rainfall 

but west of that meridian, especially in the summer, the 
rainfall rapidly decreases toward the west and south, — the 
temperature rising as the rainfall declines. These large 
areas of hot and arid lands are ill fitted to cultivation or 
even to grazing unless artificial irrigation is resorted to. 
This system is already applied to large regions east of the 
Rocky Mountains as well as in the valley lowlands of the 
Pacific Coast. The returns from irrigated lands are usually 
large and certain. The extension of this system will greatly 
increase the productivity of the western half of our country. 
5. Physical Formation of North America. — No matter 



easy access to ^yhat its advantages may be ui the way of ramfall and tem- 

the ocean. , /. ., , - . , , 

perature, character of sou, and extent of mmeral deposits, a 
country to be of the utmost value must offer easy access to 



§ s] Physical Formation of North America 7 

the outer world. This is especially true of regions which 
were colonized from Europe in the era of sailing ships. 
The eastern half of the United States offered every induce- 
ment to the voyager to reach its shores, and the low-lying 
Appalachian system has proved to be easily surmountable 
by the railroad. Many writers speak of the Mississippi and Gateways to 
the St. Lawrence as the keys or gateways to the continent. ^^^ interior. 
This is true in a miUtary sense, but only in a very limited 
sense as to commerce and colonization. The lower course 
of the St. Lawrence is far to the north, where the winters 
are severe. Its whole lower valley is beyond the home of 
Indian corn, the American foodstuff, whose simple culture 
and great return made colonization farther south compara- 
tively easy. The lower St. Lawrence is really a fiord- like 
arm of the sea. At Montreal a sea-going vessel is stopped 
by a rocky barrier — the Lachine Rapids. This and other 
obstacles on the way to the Great Lakes could be overcome 
or evaded by the Indian trader and the soldier ; but colo- 
nists found it difficult to transport their families, household 
implements, and supplies to the fertile regions of the interior. 
Besides, the St. Lawrence is frozen over for one half the 
year, and ice closes the lakes to navigation for nearly an 
equal period. Before the days of steam, the Mississippi 
basin was difficult of access. It is not frozen, except in its 
northern portions, nor are its lower or middle sections barred 
by rocky barriers. Its winding course, tireless current, 
and recurring shallows offered almost insuperable obstacles 
to the colonist in the days of sailing ships. The gateway to 
the interior was from the Atlantic seaboard through the 
breaks in the Appalachians or around the southern end of 
that system. 

The Pacific coast is less inaccessible. The Golden Gate The Pacific 
leads to the great lowland valleys of the Sacramento and the approaches, 
San Joaquin ; the Columbia affords access to fertile lands, and 
Puget Sound opens up a rich agricultural country. The Pacific 
slope, however, was far removed from the colonizing countries 
of Europe, and its first settlers came overland from Mexico. 



The Land and its Resources 



[§6 



Extent, cli- 
mate, and 
rainfall. 
Shaler's 
United States, 
I, ch. ii. 



Passes 
through the 
Appalachian 
system. 



Natural 
resources. 



6. The Atlantic Seaboard. — This section extends from tiie 
ocean to the water parting of the Appalachian system that 
divides the rivers falhng into the Atlantic from those which 
flow into the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence. It is about 
four hundred miles wide and two thousand miles long. It 
possesses sufficient rainfall and a range of temperature such 
as is found on the other side of the Atlantic, from the Arctic 
Circle to Cape de Verde on the western coast of Africa. 
The Appalachian system is divided into sections lengthwise 
by fertile valleys extending southward from New Jersey to 
North Carolina. The western range (usually termed the 
AUeghanies) seldom rises to more than five thousand feet 
and is generally fit for the plow. The eastern range 
(sometimes called the old Appalachian chain) is higher, but 
it is broken in all directions by fertile valleys. 

The most important breaks in the Appalachian system 
are those between the Hudson and the St. Lawrence by 
Lake Champlain and between the Hudson and the Great 
Lakes by the Mohawk. The Hudson is really an arm of the 
sea and the influence of the tides is felt even above the 
mouth of the Mohawk. A rise in the sea level of only one 
hundred and fifty-two feet would convert all the country 
east of the Hudson and Lake Champlain into an island. 
The highest point on the route from the Hudson to Lake 
Erie is only four hundred feet above sea level. This 
river and the Mohawk were plainly provided by nature to 
serve as a line of communication between the fertile lands of 
the Ohio valley and the ocean. Cumberland Gap and 
other passes lead over the mountains farther south, but none 
have these easy grades. The seaport which controls the 
commerce of the Hudson is necessarily the greatest business 
metropolis of the Adantic seacoast. 

The soil of the Atlantic slope is, on the whole, of remark- 
able fertility. Near the coast are salt marshes which are at 
present of little service, but if properly drained might be of 
great value. Between the mountain crest and the low-lying 
sea area there is a sudden break in the continuity of the 



§7] 



The Mississippi Basin 



plain. This point is usually marked by falls in the rivers 
which furnish unrivaled water power for turning the ma- 
chinery of mills and generating electricity. The whole region 
is well forested and suitable to the growth of wheat, corn, 
tobacco, and cotton. It contains some of the richest coal 
fields and beds of iron in the world. Splendid harbors, 
sheltered inland bays, and navigable rivers laid open the 
country to the immigrant and provided outlets for its 
products. 

7. The Mississippi Basin. — This section extends from Character- 
the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains and contains nearly Jf|'"- , 
one million square miles of land, almost all of which is United Statesx 
suited to the uses of man. It is a nearly level area, sloping I. i^h. iii. 
gently from the west and east to the center, and from the 
north to the Gulf of Mexico. For the most part it is a 
table-land from six thousand to three hundred feet above the 
sea level, trenched by flood-plain valleys along the paths of 
the principal rivers. With the exception of the flood plain 
of the Mississippi below the thirty-sixth parallel, the river 
bottoms are narrow and the whole basin is free from dis- 
eases and dangers of low-lying countries to a degree equaled 
by no other very great river system. An idea of the vast 
size of the Mississippi basin may be gathered from the state- 
ment that from the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the 
Ohio is eleven hundred miles and from that point to Pitts- 
burg is fully one thousand miles more, — in all about two- 
thirds of the distance across the Atlantic from New York to 
Liverpool. 

Measured by the amount of water contributed to the main 
stream, the Ohio is the largest branch of the Mississippi, 
A common error is to regard the Ohio valley as including The Ohio 
only the portion north of the river, probably because of the ^ ^^' 
situation of the state of Ohio. In reality, the valley of the 
Tennessee is as much a part of the Ohio basin as the valley 
of the Allegheny. This basin is the richest single division of 
the continent : the temperature is about the same as that 
of the Atlantic slope, the rainfall is abundant, the soil is 



lO 



The Land and Us Resources 



The prairies.^ 



Lower Mis- 
sissippi val- 
ley. 



Character 
and re- 
sources. 
Shaler's 
United States, 
I, ch. iii. 



fertile and admirably suited to the production of corn and 
wheat, and the mineral deposits are exceedingly rich and 
abundant. This region was forest clad on the coming of 
the whites, but there were large spaces of cleared land which 
could be at once used by the settler. 

West of the Wabash, one of the tributaries of the Ohio, 
there were no trees except in the river bottoms. This was 
due to the Indian practice of burning the grass to provide 
fresh fields for the bisons or buffaloes ; but there is nothing 
in the natural condition of these lands to prevent the growth 
of trees. West of the one hundredth meridian, until the 
slopes of the Rockies are reached, the rainfall is too scanty 
for tree life, as it is in the Great Basin between the Rocky 
Mountains proper and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada 
ranges. The treeless region of the Mississippi basin east 
of the one hundredth meridian is admirably fertile and 
suited to the growth of corn and wheat, although the winters 
are severe, the summers often hot, and the rainfall some- 
times deficient. The Mississippi basin also contains large 
deposits of coal and most valuable mines of iron, copper, 
lead, and zinc. 

The soil of the lower Mississippi valley is exceedingly 
fertile, the rainfall is abundant, and the cHmate is suited to 
the growth of plants which require a large amount of moisture. 
The flood plain has been subdued by the erection of dikes 
called levees, and only about six thousand square miles are too 
swampy for redemption. Taken all together, and weighing 
the advantages and the disadvantages, it may safely be said 
that there is no other land of its size on the surface of the 
earth so admirably suited to the purposes of mankind as the 
basin of the Mississippi. 

8. The Cordilleran Region. — The whole of the United 
States, west of the one hundred and fifth meridian, with the 
exception of the upper valley of the Missouri and the valley 
lowlands of the Pacific slope is occupied by the Cordilleran 
system. This section is no less than one thousand miles 
wide from the prairies to the Pacific. The mineral resources 



§9] 



Adaptability of the Continent 



II 



are great and varied, gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, iron, and 
coal. The climate is healthful, but in many places is too 
dry for agriculture, except when irrigated, and portions of 
it, indeed, are unfit even for pasturage. 

The Pacific coast district includes the valley lowlands of 
the Sacramento and San Joaquin. The temperature of south- 
ern California is singularly uniform, but the heat is often 
oppressive in the deeper portions of the valleys, although 
higher up the climate is more temperate. Rain seldom falls 
in the summer, but the nearness of the mountains makes 
irrigation comparatively easy. Almost any crop can be 
grown on these lands, as wheat, oranges, and olives. Farther 
north, the valley of the lower Columbia enjoys a more uniform 
temperature and abundant moisture. In places the rainfall 
is excessive and the climate generally resembles that of 
England. The soil is deep and fertile and the forest covering 
of great value. 

9. Adaptability of the Continent. — The agricultural and Effects of the 
mining regions are so arranged that the greater portion of American 

, . ^ , . . , . 1 • 1 • 1 environment. 

the country is fitted tor varied occupations, which give the ghaler's 
best results in the growth of a race. The climate is also United states, 
suited to E^uropeans. Formerly, it was the habit of foreign !J;.'^!^''f' 
writers to picture the American as a thin, lanky man, America, iv. 
quite inferior physically to his European ancestor. The 
application of scientific methods to. the elucidation of this 
problem has dispelled this delusion as well as others of a less 
critical age. 

During the Civil War, thousands of soldiers in the Union 
armies were carefully measured. These men were drawn 
from all portions of the country, and also included thousands 
of recent immigrants from Great Britain, Ireland, and Ger- 
many. The results were published in a book, from which 
the following table has been compiled. It will be seen that 
the American, instead of being the tall, thin-chested, and 
light-weighted man he is always described as being, is prac- 
tically as heavy and as stout as the newcomers from Europe ; 
he is slightly taller, but only slightly. 



12 



The Land and its Resources 



[§9 





Height 


Weight 


Chest 


(Inches) 










(Inches) 


(Pounds) 


Full 
inspiration 


After 
inspiration 


New England 


67.8 


139 


36.7 


34-1 


Middle States 


67-5 


140 


37-0 


34-3 


Ohio, Indiana 


• 68.1 


145 


37-5 


34-9 


England 


66.7 


137 


36.9 


34-3 


Ireland 


66.9 


139 


37-5 


35-2 


Germany 


66.6 


140 


37-2 


34-7 



When one consi(ders all these things, — the climate and 
the rainfall of the United States, its physical features, its 
fertile soils, and magnificent water powers, its marvellous 
mineral resources, and the effect of this environment on the 
physical body, — one must admit that the European race has 
gained by its transfer from its ancient home to the soil of 
the United States. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 2, 3. Tf.mpkrature 

a. Give the differences in temperature between Europe and North 
America, and their causes. 

b. Has either continent decided advantage over the other in tem- 
perature, and why ? 

c. What places in the United States have the same annual tempera- 
ture as northern Spain? the same winter temperature? the same 
summer temperature? 



§ 4. Rainfall 

a. Show the connection between the mode of sustenance of a people 
and its civilization. 

b. Represent upon an Outline Map the distribution of rain in the 
United States, and state its results. 

c. Economic study : " Statistics of Irrigation on Pacific Coast." 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 13 

§ 5. Physical Formation 

a. Compare Europe and North America, as to ease of access. 
d. Describe the different natural approaches to the North American 
continent, and compare their excellence. 

§ 6. Atlantic Seaboard 

a. If all the natural resources of the Atlantic seaboard were utilized, 
how many different kinds of employments would be possible to its 
inhabitants? 

3. What effect would free trade have upon diversity of occupation? 

c. Can you find an argument in this section for or against free trade 
in the United States? 

§ 7. Mississippi Basin 

a. Make a written comparison of the Mississippi basin and the 
Atlantic seaboard. Explain fully the advantages of the former. 

d. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the three sub- 
divisions of the Mississippi basin? 

§ 8. CORDILLERAN REGION 

a. Give a general description of the Cordilleran region. 
l>. Name and characterize its subdivisions. 

§ 9. Adaptability of the Continent 

a. Give the testimony of statistics as to the influence of the condi- 
tions of the American continent upon European races. 

General Questions 

a. Present the materials of this chapter in the form of a digest. 

l>. Assign the three following subjects: "Temperature,"" Rainfall," 
" Physical Formation of the United States," individually to members 
of the class for reading in the special accounts and elsewhere; let 
each put a topical analysis of his results in the form of a report either 
written or oral. 



CHAPTER I 

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, 1000-1600 

Books for Consultation * 

General Readings. — Higginson's Larger History, 27-108; 
Thwaites's Colonies, 20-32, 36-42. 

Special Accounts. — Winsor's Afuerica, I, 69-75, I^' 1^23, 129-152, 
231-283, 473-498, III, 1-7, IV, 5-u, 47-62, 105-130; *Winsor's 
Columbus; *¥\%ke.''^ Discovery of America ; Lowery's Spanish Settle- 
tnents ; Parkman's Pioneers of France (ed. 1887), chs. vii-ix ; Froude's 
English Seamen ; Bourinot's Story of Canada ; *Corbett's Sir 
Francis Drake; Channing's History of the United States, I, chs. i-v; 
*Bourne's .^rt/w in America; harried' s History for Ready Reference, 
under America. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets ; Old South Leaflets; * Hart's 
Contemporaries ; Jameson's Original Narratives of Early American 
History. 

Maps. — The best collection of facsimiles for the use of students is 
Rage's Die Entwickelung der Kartographie (published by Petermann, 
Mitteilungen, erganzungsheft, No. 106, price $2.00). Other collections 
are Winsor's America, Vols. I, II, III, and IV ; Winsor's Columbus 
and his Cartier. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 97, 100-109, iii- 
"3- 

Illustrative Material. — Irving's Columbus (abridged edition) ; 
Prescott's Conquest of Mexico and Conquest of Peru ; Lummis's Span- 
ish Pioneers ; Wallace's Land of the Pueblos ; Yule's Marco Polo ; 
J. I. Lockhart's Memoir of Bernal Diaz. 

Longfellow's Discoverer of the North Cape., Skeleton in Armor, and 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert; Lowell's Cohimbus : Tennyson's Columbus; 
Kingsley's Westward Ho I ; Cooper's Mercedes of Castile ; Simms's 
Vasconselos. For other titles see Guide, § 51. 

14 



lOOO] 



Early Geographical Ideas 



IS 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION, 1000-1600 



10. Voyages of the Northmen. — There is little doubt that 
the hardy seamen of northern Europe — the Northmen, as 
we call them — visited the coasts of North America in the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries and may possibly have made 
settlements there. The evidence for these voyages is found 
in old writings called " sagas." Some of these relate the 
stories of kings and heroes ; but others, as those which de- 
scribe the discovery of Vinland or America, represent tradi- 
tions that had been handed down by word of mouth for genera- 
tions. These Vinland sagas all relate that wild wheat and 
wineberries were abundant in the country that was discovered 
by Leif Ericsson in the year 1000. The wineberries closely 
resemble those from which the Northmen made wine in 
their native land, and the wild wheat was hke that which 
was used in Iceland for the making of bread. The wine- 
berries were so abundant in the newly discovered coun 
that the Northmen called it Vinland or Winejand. y ft was 
probably some part of the maritime Provinces of Canada, 
and it may have included a portion of the New England 
coast. The Northmen made many other voyages to Vin- 
land, but gradually they ceased coming and all memory of 
this western land faded away, except in the minds of a few 
scholars who were familiar with the old sagas. 

11. English and French Fishermen. — Other European 
mariners sailed across the north Atlantic to the coast of 
America before 1492. These were the fishermen and fur 
traders from England and France who came to Labrador 
and Newfoundland. Undoubtedly they thought that, these 
lands were part of the European and Asiatic continents and 
not portions of a New World. At any rate, they wrote little 
about their experiences and not much is known of them to 
this day. 

12. Early Geographical Ideas. — Many learned men 
among the ancients believed that the earth was round and 
not flat, as had been taught in the poems of Homer. One 



Discovery o* 
Vinland or 
America, 
A.D. 1000. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 3. 




The New- 
foundland 
fisheries. 



Geographi- 
cal ideas 
of the 
ancients. 
♦Winsor's 
Columbus. 



i6 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§i3 



Preservation 
of the theory 
during the 
Midtlle Ages. 
*Winsor's 
Columbus. 



Toscanelli 
and Colum- 
bus. 

*Winsor's 
Columbus. 



of these, Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, who lived 
three hundred years and more before the birth of Christ, 
proved to his own satisfaction, by observing the shadow of 
the earth during eclipses, that it was round. Eratosthenes, 
a Greek geographer, went even farther. He wrote that if 
the Atlantic Ocean was not so vast, one might go by sea 
from Spain to India by steering a westerly course. More- 
over, he thought that somewhere out in the ocean there 
might be two or even more habitable earths of which men 

had no knowledge. 

This globular theory 
of the shape of the 
earth was preserved 
during the Middle 
Ages by the Arabian 
philosophers and also 
appears from time to 
time in the writings 
of Christian authors. 
One of these, Roger 
Bacon, one of Eng- 
land's earliest and 
one of her greatest 
thinkers, referred to 
the rotundity of the 
earth and even enforced his ideas by reference to ancient 
writers. It is not impossible that it was in this precise way 
that the idea that the earth was round came to Columbus. 

13. Ideas of Toscanelli, Behaim, and Columbus. — Among 
Italian scholars who were interested in geographical matters 
was Paolo Toscanelli of Florence. Columbus wrote to him for 
advice as to sailing across the Atlantic to Asia. Toscanelli 
replied with a letter and a map which may or may not have 
influenced Columbus. There is still in existence a globe which 
shows the ideas oi scientific navigators of Columbus's time. 
This was completed by Martin Behaim in the suinmer of 
1492, at about the time that Columbus sailed on his great 




Toscanelli 




17 



i8 



Discovery and Exploration 



\l 



14 



Behaim's 

globe. 

Winsor's 

Columbus, 

186-190; 

Winsor's 

America, 

104. 



n, 



voyage, A sketch of a portion of it is given on the preced- 
ing page with America shown in its true relation to Europe. 
Behaim and Columbus belonged to the same school of 
navigators, thought alike on geographical matters, and 
probably knew each other. They thought that the earth 
was only three-quarters of its real size, because they had 
no conception of the oceans that lie between Europe and 
Asia. They beHeved that Cipango or Japan was where 
Mexico really is ; they also placed the Canary Islands far to 
the west of their true position. Looking at the Behaim 
map, it is easy to understand what Columbus had in mind 
to do when he sailed on his great voyage and how easily he 
might have thought that he had reached an outlying Asiatic 
land when he was really off the coast of Cuba. It is well 
that this mistake arose, or he would not have set out on his 
voyage, for Japan is ten thousand miles from the Canaries 
instead of only three thousand miles as Columbus thought. 
It was hard enough to fit out an expedition for the shorter 
voyage ; it might well have been impossible to obtain either 
vessels or men to go ten thousand miles across the Sea of 
Darkness. As it was, the task to which Columbus set him- 
self was without precedent. For a thousand years wise 
men had believed the earth to be a ball, and that Asia 
might be reached by sailing across the Sea of Darkness ; 
until Columbus appeared, no one had deliberately set forth 
to test the truth of the theory : 



Clough's 
Columbus. 



What if wise men, as far back as Ptolemy, 

Judged that the earth like an orange was round, 

None of them ever said, come along, follow me. 
Sail to the West and the East will be found. 



14. Columbus's First Voyage, 1492. — On the 3d of Au- 
gust, 1492, the little fleet of three vessels passed out of the 
roadstead of Palos ; on August 24 and 25 the Peak of 
Tenerifife was in sight ; and, on September 6, the Canaries 
were behind them. Westward they sailed, wafted along by 
light easterly breezes, with every now and then a calm ; at 



1492]; Columbus^s Later Voyages 19 

one time the weeds of the Sargasso Sea were around them, and The great 
they steered northward to avoid them, and then westward voyage.^ 
again. After they had been out of sight of land for more ^pain in 
than a month, Martin Alonzo Pinzon, the captain of the America; 
Finta, induced the admiral to change the course of the ^^ving's 
fleet to the southwest. It is well that he did so. Had the (abridged 
vessels continued longer on their westerly course, they would ed.), 55-119; 
have passed north of the Bahamas, out of sight of land, have ^^^^^ ^ 
become involved in the current of the Gulf Stream, and have 419; Ameri- 
reached the American shores in the stormy region of ^^« History 
the Carolina coasts. As it happened, on the evening of vjq /^' 
October it, Columbus saw a light in the distance, and at 
two o'clock on the morning of October 1 2 the Pinta, which 
was in advance, signaled land in sight. When day dawned, 
an island was seen. The natives called it Guanahani. 
Columbus named it San Salvador, but which of the three 
thousand islands or islets of the Bahamas it is, no one 
knows. Sailing thence, Columbus visited the northern 
coast of Cuba, and, doubling back on his course, dis- 
covered the island of Santo Domingo which the Indians 
called Haiti. Columbus reached Spain again, after many 
adventures and great hardships. Ferdinand and Isabella, 
the Spanish monarchs, received him at Barcelona with 
great splendor. He had most wonderful stories to tell 
and many interesting things to show. Among them were 
ornaments of gold and above all some natives of the Indian 
islands on the other side of the Ocean Sea. 

15. Columbus's Later Voyages. — In 1493, Columbus at The second 
the head of a great expedition sailed from Spain to the voyage, 1493. 
magic islands that he had discovered in 1492. His later 
career was most unhappy, for there was little gold to be 
found in the islands that were first occupied by the Span- 
iards and his own despotic temperament angered his colo- 
nists and led to rebellion. Besides beginning the settlement 
of Santo Domingo, Columbus on this second voyage explored 
the southern coasts of Cuba and discovered the island of 
Jamaica. In 1496 he returned to Spain for reenforcements. 



20 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§i5 



The third The year 1498 saw Columbus again on the western side of 

voyage. 1498. ^j^g Atlantic. Pursuing a more southerly route, he reached 

the northeastern corner of South America and anchored his 

vessels in the estuary of the Orinoco. The newly discovered 

river was so large that the land it drained could be no is- 




Map made by La Cosa, 1500 



land, but there was no room for a continent south of India 
on the maps that Columbus knew. Either he had not 
reached the lands of Asia or the earth was not round. He 
made up his mind that the earth was shaped like a pear 
and that this New World was on the stem end. From the 
Orinoco, he sailed northward to Santo Domingo and in 
1500 was taken to Spain to answer complaints that had 
been made of his conduct by the Spanish colonists. 



I502J 



Columbus and Cabot 



21 



Two years later, in 1502, Columbus was again in the Indies The fourth 
searching for a waterway leading to China between Cuba '^oy^&s- 1502. 
and North America. This time he sailed along the shores 
of Central America and heard vague rumors of a great body 
of water on the other side of the land which he had just 
discovered. After fruitless attempts, he abandoned the 
search for the strait leading to this great ocean, and sailed 




C.Bianclw' 
Jnt.dil.r.Verde'OOf: 

1, Co"''"'' 

:r^noiii<?° Sin 




Sgorgu 



L'KQUINOCIIALIS 



Map made by Bartholomew Columbus before 1502 
(Note connection between " Mondo Novo " and Asia.) 



for Santo Domingo. After suffering great hardships he 
returned to Spain and there died in 1506, scarcely noticed 
by his contemporaries. 

16. The Cabot Voyages, 1497-1498. — John Cabot, like 
Columbus a native of Italy, sailed across the North Atlantic 
in 1497, from Bristol, England. He made his voyage under 
a license from Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings. 
Going far to the north of Columbus's route, he anchored his 
ship off the coast of Labrador or in some of the harbors of 
Newfoundland or of the lands just to the southward. He 
then returned to England, reporting that he had reached the 
coasts of China. In 1498, he sailed again and disappeared 
from sight. These Cabot voyages are very important in our 
history because it is on them that later English monarchs 
based their right to make settlements in the New World. 
Our knowledge of what John Cabot really did is very sHght, 



First Cabot 
voyage, 1497. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
1-7; Fiske's 
Discovery , 1 1, 



22 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§i7 



Evidence for 
the first voy- 
age. Amer- 
ican History 
Leaflets, 
No. 9. 



but there is no doubt that the voyages were made and that, 
in 1497, John Cabot reached the coast of North America. 
On this page is the sketch of a map that was made by 
Cabot's son, Sebastian, nearly fifty years later. In the origi- 
nal map, under the figure of the bear, is a reference to a 
statement saying that " this land was discovered by John 




Cabot, a Venetian, and by Sebastian Cabot, his son." Across 
the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are words stating 
that this was the land first seen. A study of this sketch 
will show how vague our information as to these voyages 
really is. 

17. The Naming of America. — Still another Italian to 
visit America in these early days was Amerigo Vespucci, or 
Americus Vespucius, to give his name its Latin form. It is 



1504] Naming of America 23 

not exactly certain what he did in America. Some students Americus 

think that he saw the coast of South America at a very early Vespucms. 

. J Winsors 

time ; others look upon him as the discoverer of Florida. America, ii, 

At any rate, in 1504, he wrote an account of his experiences ch. ii. 
in the New World. This letter was printed and became 

well known to scholars. One of these, Martin Waldsee- His letter of 

mtiller, a teacher of geography, wrote a scientific paper ^504-^ Old 

which also found its way into print. It was in this Cosmo- le/s.X, No. $. 



Nuc )^o Sch^ partes funt latius luftratcc/& alia 
quartapars per Americu Vefputiu(vt in fequenti 
bus audietur)muenta eft/qua noil video cur quis 
iure vetet ab Amerfco inuentore fagacis ingenij vi 
ro Amerigen quafi Americi terra /liue Americam Amcri^ 
dicenda:cu Sc Europa Sc Afia a mulieribus fua for ca 
tita rintTiomina.Ems fitu dC gentis mores ex bis hi 
nis Americi nauigationibus quae fequuncliqaidc 
intelligidatun 

Facsimile of passage in the Cosmographiae Introductio 

graphic Introductio that Waldseemiiller named the new The New 
found world America in honor of the person whom he W°''''^ 

* named 

thought had discovered it. He kept Columbus's name for America, 
the islands and had no intention of lessening the glory of Winsor's 

.1 ^ J- f-ni i _i J America, II, 

the great discoverer. Ihe new name was at once placed 5_ k . 

on South America on the maps of that time. Later, when Fiske's Dis- 

it became certain that the American continents were one covety, II, 
and were not connected with Asia, the name spread over 
the whole New World. 

18. Discovery of the Pacific, 1513. — The discoverer of Balboa dis- 

the Pacific was no Italian, but a Spanish adventurer named "'^^'[^ 

1 1 -1 Pacific. 

Balboa. He had come to the new lands to get riches piske's Dis- 
quickly and found himself a bankrupt and a rebel. One covery, 11, 
day, while on an expedition in the country just to the south- ^ ^' 



24 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§i8 



ward of the line of the present Panama Canal, he learned 
from an Indian chief that beyond the mountains which lay 
inland was a great sea. Furthermore, the Indian chief told 
him that the lands bordering on this other ocean abounded 
in gold and in silver. Here was tlie opportunity for Balboa. 




"Longitude 90 



Routes of the discoverers 

On September 25, 15 13, he found himself on the crest of 
the Cordilleras. At the foot of the mountains glittered the 
waters of the unknown sea. At that point the Isthmus of 
Panama runs from east to west. To Balboa, therefore, the 
new sea shone from the south ; he therefore named it the 
South Sea. Now, it is generally called the Pacific, that 



IS 



20] 



Circumnavigation of the Globe 



25 



guese navi- 
gators. 



ch. ix. 



being the name given to it by Magellan who was the first 
European to reach it by water from the Atlantic. 

19. Circumnavigation of the Globe. — Magellan was a native The Portu- 
of Portugal who sailed in the service of the King of Spain. 
The Portuguese were the most daring navigators of that epoch. 
Before Columbus made his great voyage, they had sailed Magellan 
along the western coast of Africa, as far as the Cape of Good f/""-^'*' ^,5^°- 

° ... Winsor s 

Hope. In 1497, Vasco da Gama, one of their greatest cap- America, II, 
tains, sailed around 
the southern end of 
Africa to Calicut in 
India, and returned 
home safely. In 
1500 another Portu- 
guese mariner, Gas- 
par de Cortereal, 
discovered the shores 
of Labrador and 
Hudson Strait. In 
the same year, Ca- 
bral sailed from Por- 
tugal for India by the 
way of the Cape of 
Good Hope. Steer- 
ing way out from the 
African coast, he 
sighted the shores of 

Brazil and then proceeded on his voyage to the Indian 
Ocean. Nineteen years later, Magellan sailed in search of 
a water route to the South Sea around or through South 
America. He found the strait which still bears his name. 
Passing through it on November 28, 1520, he sailed out into 
the broad Pacific which he so named because the winds 
were gentle when he reached it. Steering boldly toward 
the north and west, he discovered the Phihppine Islands. 
There he was killed in an encounter with the natives. One 
of his vessels, the Victoria, was navigated by her officers 




Magellan 



26 



Discovery and Exploration 



f§ 



Ponce de 
Leon in 
Florida, 1513. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
332-236. 



Cuba, 

Yucatan, 
Mexico. 



through the Spice Islands, across tne Indian Ocean, around 
the Cape of Good Hop*^ and so back to Spain ; thus for the 
first time circumnavigating the globe. 

20. Discovery of Florida. — It is probable that the 
Spaniards had known of the mainland of the United States 
before 1500, for the peculiar featuies of the continental 
outHne are clearly shown on early maps. The first Spanish 
voyager whose name is plainly associated with this land is 
Ponce de Leon. In 15 13, he sailed northward from the 
Bahamas to explore a land which the natives of the islands 
declared to be rich in gold and silver and to enjoy a perfect 
chmate. On Easter Sunday, he came within sight of the 
coast not far from the present St. Augustine. He called 
the new land Florida from the Spanish name for Easter, 
Pascua Florida. From this point De Leon sailed around 
the southern end of the peninsula and traced the western 
shore as far north as Tampa Bay. Other Spanish voyagers 
came to the Gulf coast of the United States in the next few 
years, but it was not until 15 21 that Ponce de Leon again 
visited the land of Florida. This time he was at the head 
lof an expedition to foun.d a settlement. Sickness among his 
men, the hostihty of the natives, and a serious wound drove 
him back to Cuba. Thus came to an untimely end the first 
of a long series of attempts to plant colonies on the shores 
of North America. 

21. Mexico. — -The island of Cuba was conquered soon 
after 1508. The natives of Cuba were not sufficiently 
numerous to furnish the labor required by the Spaniards. 
Expeditions were, therefore, sent off to the west and to the 
north to capture slaves. One of these, driven from its 
course by winds and currents, reached the coast of Yucatan 
in the year 15 17. This region had already been examined, 
but all remembrances of the earlier exploration had faded 
out. Soon after, the coast of Mexico was discovered and 
the conquest of the country intrusted to Cortez. The story 
of his wonderful expedition and the account of the Indian 
capital on islands in the Lake of Mexico lies outside the 



[524] 



The Verrazano Voyage 



27 



limits of tliis book. It is important to note it. however, 
because from Mexico expeditions were sent owl to the south- 
western part of the United States and to the Pacific coast. 

22. The Spaniards on the Atlantic Coast — In 1524 or 
15 25, a navigator named Gomez, who had deserL?d Magellan 
in the most trying part of his cruise, sailed along the eastern 
coast of North America from Labrador to North Carolina. 
A year or two later, in 1526, one of the powerful Spanish 
officials in the Indies, by name Ayllon, led a great expedi- 
tion to Chesapeake Bay, and began a settlement on the 
shores of the James River. The enterprise was most unfor- 
tunate : in a few months Ayllon and 350 of the original 500 
colonists were dead. The survivers abandoned the settle- 
ment and returned to Santo Domingo. 

23. The Verrazano Voyage, 1524. — Verrazano, like Co- 
lumbus, Cabot, and Vespucius, was an Ttahan. In 1524, he 
sailed for America under the direction of Francis I, king of 
France, the bitterest enemy of Charles V, the emperor, who 
was also the king of Spain. Verrazano reached the coast 
not far from Cape Hatteras. On his way up the coast, he 
entered New York and Newport harbors. He coasted the 
shores as far north as Nova Scotia and then sailed back to 
Europe. Our evidences of this voyage are very unsatisfac- 
tory and have given a great deal of trouble to students. 
Nowadays, it is generally thought that the voyage was made, 
although the precise details of it are indistinct. 

24. Discovery of the Southwest. — Narvaez, an active 
Spanish adventurer, resolved to conquer the region lying to 
the north of the Gulf of Mexico. He easily obtained the 
necessary permission from the Spanish government, and in 
1528 led a large and finely equipped expedition to the 
southern coast of the present United States. For years 
nothing more was heard of him o\ his men. At length 
(^536) one of the officers of cne expedition, Alvar Nunez 
Cabeza de Vaca, appeared at San Miguel, a little Spanish 
village on the western coast of Mexico ; with him were three 
companions, one of them a negro. He had a most curious 



Ayllon and 
Gomez. 
Winsor's 
America, II 
238-241. 



The French 
claim to 
America. 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 
5-9- 



Narvaez 
on the coast 
of Florida, 

1527- 

Cabeza de 
Vaca, 1528- 
1536. 
Winsor's 
A VI erica, 
11,243 ; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
73-96. 



28 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§2S 



Friar Marcos 
sees one of 
the " cities," 
1539. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, 11,475- 
480. 



Coronado 
in the 
Southwest. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
480-498 ; 
American 
History 
Leaflets, No. 
13 ; Contem- 
poraries, I, 
No. 24. 



and interesting story to narrate : for years he and his com- 
panions had wandered from one Indian settlement to another, 
regarded in one place as " great medicine men," in another 
as attractive curiosities. He had heard rumors of immense 
herds of wild cows — the buffalo or bison of North America ; 
he had also heard of wonderful cities in the interior, whose 
doorways were studded with precious stones. It was further 
reported to him that gold and silver were abundant in these 
'* Seven cities of Cibola." 

Attracted by these tales of treasure, Mendoza, the viceroy 
of Mexico, determined to ascertain the truth. He dispatched 
on this errand (1539) a certain Friar Marcos de Nizza, who 
had already made his way on foot from Panama to Mexico. 
Friar Marcos passed the desert between Mexico and the 
pueblo region and saw one of the pueblos or villages from a 
distance ; he then fled for his life and reported his doings to 
Mendoza. On first reading the account of his journey, one 
is tempted to doubt his truthfulness ; a more careful perusal 
will convince the student that the worthy friar reported 
what he saw with accuracy, and carefully separated the ac- 
counts of what he actually saw from the stories which he had 
gathered from the natives along the route. His country- 
men, however, exercised no such care ; soon Mexico re- 
sounded with most marvellous tales of the size and splendor 
of these " cities " in the interior. 

25. Coronado's Expedition, 1540-42. — A great army 
was fitted out to conquer this wonderful land : the comman- 
der was Francisco Vasquez Coronado, who set forth abund- 
antly supplied with everything needful for the success of 
the enterprise. The army, with its baggage train, was too 
large to move rapidly, and Coronado went on in advance 
with a large force of mounted men. He reached and con- 
quered pueblo after pueblo, but found no gold. These 
great Indian villages, which are so full of instruction and 
interest for the modern student, were equally full of dis- 
appointment for the Spanish conquerors. The cities of 
which so much had been said were merely Indian pueblos 



1539] -^^ Soto^s Expedition, ijjg-ij4j 29 

of sunburned clay ; nor were they as large as had been re- 
ported, for Friar Marcos had been deceived by the peculiar 
effect of the atmosphere in those rainless regions, which 
makes distant objects appear far larger than they really are. 
The jeweled doorways proved to be the hatchways leading 
from the flat roofs of the pueblos into the rooms beneath ; 
they were ornamented with the rough gem stones of the 
Rockies picked up in the neighborhood. Gold was not to 
be found, but report said that Indians living to the north- 
ward possessed it. Northward, therefore, went Coronado Coronado 
and a portion of his gallant band : they came across herds "^^^, north- 

^ ° ^ . ward across 

of wild COWS SO vast that they could not ride through them ; the Plains, 
they also crossed immense treeless plains devoid of all 
landmarks to guide the traveler. The best-mounted men, 
who pushed on ahead of the others, probably reached the 
central part of the present state of Kansas. Everywhere 
the same hopeless tale, — there was no gold. The great 
expedition returned to Mexico, to the disappointment and 
dismay of every one, and Coronado, broken-hearted, dis- 
appears from history. While on the return journey to 
Mexico, an Indian woman ran away from Coronado's ex- 
pedition ; nine days later she fell in with another band of 
Spaniards,- — ^ men of De Soto's army, which had marched 
overland from the Atlantic slope. 

26. De Soto's Expedition, 1539-1543. — De Soto had De Soto in 

borne a part in a cruel conquest of Peru which is associated Flo"da, 

• 1 TT , T^ • • 1539- Win- 

with Pizarro s name. Determmmg to conquer a country ^^j-^ Amer- 

for himself, in 1539 he landed on the western coast of ica, 11,244- 

Florida. He had with him Kjo men, magnificently ^^'^'l '&g"i 

equipped. In the course of the next three years, he and piorers, 121- 

his followers wandered over the southernmost part of the 140- 

United States, from South Carolina to the Mississippi, and 

even across that great river. They found no treasure ; the 

Indians were numerous and warhke, and the hardships of 

the journey were great. De Soto died and the survivors 

determined to abandon the country and seek the nearest 

Spanish settlement. At first they tried to march south- 



30 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§27 



Cartiei's first 
voyage, 1534. 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 

47-50; 
*Bourinot's 
Story of Can- 
ada, ch. iii ; 
Contempo- 
raries, I, 
No. 35; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
99-104. 



Cartier's 
second 
voyage, 
1535. Win- 
sor's 
America, IV, 

50-SS : 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
104- I 17. 



Ribault on 
Port Royal 
Sound, 1562. 



westwardly and came near meeting Coronado's men some- 
where in Texas. From this point they returned to the 
Mississippi ; there they built boats, voyaged down the stream 
to its mouth, and running along the shores to the Gulf 
reached the Spanish settlements in Mexico. These early 
Spanish explorers were harsh and cruel to the natives ; but 
when one thinks of the great distances they marched and 
the terrible hardships they endured, it is difficult to avoid 
giving them praise for their endeavors. 

27. The French in the St. Lawrence, 1534-1541. — For 
ten years after Verrazano, no French explorer came to 
North America. In 1534, Jacques Cartier, a native of St. 
Malo, sailed through the Straight of Belle Isle which sep- 
arates Newfoundland from Labrador. After exploring the 
southern coast of that desolate land, he crossed the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence to Prince Edward Island which he named 
Isle St. Jean. He then coasted the shore of the western 
side of the Gulf and came to the island of Anticosti. It 
stands in the midst of a waterway that Cartier felt confident 
would lead through the land to China and India. He then 
returned to France for the winter. 

The next year (1535), Cartier was again at Anticosti. 
This time he proceeded westwardly by the mouth cf the 
Saguenay, by the height on which Quebec now stands, until 
his further progress toward China was stopped by a rocky 
barrier which was later called the Lachine Rapids. On the 
northern bank of the St. Lawrence River, just below these 
rapids was a high steep hill which Cartier named Mount 
Royal. At its base has since grown up the city of Montreal. 
• Cartier wintered on shipboard in the St. Lawrence and the 
next spring returned to France. After an unsuccessful 
attempt to plant a colony in this region, the French sought 
the warmer clime of the southeastern portion of the present 
United States. 

28. The Huguenot Colonies, 1562-1565. — In 1562 Gas- 
pard de Coligny, the leader of the French Protestants or 
Huguenots, sent Jean Ribault to explore the shores of the 



1562} The Huguenot Colonies, 1562-1^65 



present states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. On 
May Day, Ribault entered the mouth of the St. John's River 
calling it the River of May. Thence he proceeded north- 
ward along the shore. Everywhere the natives were friendly, 
the land and the climate all that could be wished, and the 
signs of gold and silver promising. Leaving a few men on 
the shores of Port Royal Sound, he sailed for France for 
more men and sup- 
plies. It was two 
years before a French 
fleet again approached 
the Carolina coast 
(1564). The com- 
mander of the new 
expedition was Rent- 
de Laudonniere, like 
Ribault, a Huguenot. 
Finding the settle- 
ment abandoned, he 
steered southward 
and disembarked on 
the southern bank of 
the River of May. 
There the Frenchmen 
built a fort which they 
named Fort Caroline Cartier 

in honor of the young 

king, Charles IX. The further history of this colony was one 
series of misfortunes ; starvation, conflicts with the natives, 
and mutiny following in rapid succession. Some of the muti- 
neers plundered the Spanish settlements in the West Indies 
and gave them the first intimation of the presence of the 
French colonists in Florida. 

29. Destruction of the French Colony, 1565. — The Span- 
iards were greatly alarmed when they heard of the French 
settlement because the new colony was near the Florida 
Channel through which Spanish fleets, laden with gold and 




Parkman's 
Pioneers, 33- 
47; Higgin- 
son's Ex- 
plorers, 143 
159- 



The colony 
on the River 
of May, 1564. 
Parkman's 
Pioneers, 48^ 
95 ; Contem- 
poraries, I, 
No. 36; Hig- 
ginson's^'jr- 
plorers, 159- 
166. 



32 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§30 



Pedro 

Menendez: 

Parkman's 

Pioneers, 

96-130. 



Founding of 
St. Augus- 
tine, and 
destruction 
of the French 
fleet and 
colony, 1565. 
Winsor's 
America, II, 
260-278 ; 
Parkman's 
Pioneers, 
131-150- 



John 

Hawkins's 
voyages, 
1562-67. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
60-64 ; 
* Contempo- 
raries, I, No. 
29. 



silver, passed on their way from Mexico to Spain. Pedro 
Menendez, a Spaniard, was even then fitting out an expedi- 
tion to search for his son who had been shipwrecked in the 
vicinity of Florida. When the news of the French colony 
reached Spain, Menendez was strongly reenforced and di- 
rected to destroy it. While he was sailing across the Atlan- 
tic, John Hawkins, an English seaman, entered the St. John's 
River to see how his fellow Protestants were getting on. 
Pitying their misfortunes, he sold them one of his four 
vessels that they might at once return to France, and then 
himself sailed for England. A few days after Ribault with 
more colonists and plenty of food appeared. Every- 
thing now seemed bright at Fort Caroline ; " but, how 
oftentimes," wrote Laudonniere, " misfortune doth search 
and pursue us, even when we think to be at rest." On the 
4th of September, the Spanish Menendez sailed into the 
mouth of the river where Ribault's vessels were swinging at 
their anchors. He then passed out to sea again and made his 
way southward to St. Augustine, which he founded. Ribault 
followed the Spaniards. He failed to attack them while 
they were disembarking, and soon afterwards with his whole 
fleet was driven ashore by a hurricane. Menendez, on his 
part, used his advantages to the utmost. Marching over- 
land, he surprised and captured Fort Caroline with most of 
its inmates, and returning to St. Augustine intercepted the 
bands of shipwrecked and starving French seamen as they 
were proceeding along the shore to the River of May. In a 
short time nearly all the Frenchmen were dead or on their 
way to Spanish prisons. 

30. The Elizabethan Seamen. — The discoveries of the 
Cabots aroused little interest in England at the time. It 
was not until the reign of Queen Elizabeth that modern 
English maritime enterprise really begins. The first great 
English sea rover was John Hawkins of Devonshire, one of 
the western counties of England, which was noted for the 
hardihood of its mariners. In 1562, Hawkins sailed from 
England for the Guinea coast of Africa. Procuring three 



II 



[564] 



The Elizabethan Seamen 



33 




hundred negroes there, he carried them to Santo Domingo, 
sold them to the Spaniards and returned home with valuable 
cargoes in exchange. In 1564, he was again at sea, this time 
with four vessels : the Jesus, Solomon, Tiger, and Sivallow. 
The first of these names seems to be a strange one for a 
slaver, but men in those days saw no evil in the slave trade. 
Hawkins, himself, was a man of religious instincts and had 
prayers read twice each day 
on his own ship. This second 
voyage was also very profitable 
and it was on his homeward 
way that he called at Fort 
Caroline. Hawkins's third 
voyage (1567) was not so 
fortunate. The Spaniards at- 
tacked him — treacherously as 
he maintained — and he es- 
caped with only two of his 
five vessels. Among his com- 
manders was Francis Drake, 

also of Devonshire. He never forgave the Spaniards for 
their treachery and took such vengeance on them as few 
men ever have on their enemies, — for a hundred years he 
was known to Spanish writers as " The Dragon." 

31. Drake's Voyage around the World. — Drake made 
three successful plundering voyages to the West Indies in the 
next few years. In 1577 he sailed from Plymouth, England, 
with four vessels on a more adventurous cruise than any 111,65-73; 
Englishman had ever undertaken. His project was no less 
than to attack the Spanish settlements on the Pacific sea- 
coast and he hoped to capture a treasure ship or two on the 
voyage from Peru to Panama. Three of his vessels were 
either wrecked before the Pacific was reached or were car- 
ried home by their faint-hearted crews. In the fourth, the 
Pelican, Drake entered the Pacific Ocean in October, 1578. 
Running along the coast, he gathered an immense booty 
from vessels lying at anchor and from terrified people on 



Jijhn Hawkins 



Drake in the 
Pacific, 1578, 
Winsor's 
America, 



Contempo- 
raries^ I, No. 
30- 



34 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§32 



Sir 

Humphrey 

Gilbert, 1583. 

Higginson's 

Explorers- 

169-174. 



shore ; from one ship he took fifteen hundred bars of silver. 
Next he captured a treasure galleon and from her secured 
twenty-six tons of silver and eighty pounds' weight of gold, 
besides coined money and plate. He could not return home 
by the route through the Strait of Magellan for the Spaniards 
would be on their guard. He therefore went northward 
along the western coasts of North America, until the ropes 
of the rigging became stiff with frost in the month of June. 
From this high northerly latitude, he turned back and found 
shelter in some harbor not far from the Golden Gate, which 
leads into San Francisco Bay. After repairing and refitting, 
as well as he could, he sailed for England by way of the Cape 
of Good Hope. The Pelican was the first English vessel 
to enter the Pacific Ocean, and Drake was the first com- 
mander to carry his slnp around the world. 

32. Sir Humphrey Gilbert. — Drake was the most daring 
of English seamen, but there were many other fearless mar- 
iners. Among them were Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his 
kinsman, Walter Ralegh. Gilbert sailed three times for 
America, but ill fortune always attended him. On his third 
voyage (1583), he landed on the shore of Newfoundland, 
but failed to reach the continental mainland. On the home- 
ward voyage, the vessel on which he sailed went to the 
bottom with all on board. Our poet Longfellow has im- 
mortalized this incident : 



He sat upon the deck: 

The Book was in his hand. 
"Fear not, " he cried, " Heaven is as near 

By water as by land." 



Sir Walter 
Ralegh and 
his colonies. 
Winsor's 
America, 
Ill.ch. IV. 
ConUmpo- 
raries, J No. 



33. The "Ralegh Colonists, i>34-i590. — Sir Walter Ral- 
egh, Gilbei"<-'s half brother, was now high in Elizabeth's 
favor. He took up Gilbert's work. He himself never vis- 
ited the coast of the United States, but he did go to the 
shores of South America. In 1584, Ralegh sent an expe- 
dition under Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore 
the North American seaboard for the purpose of ascertaining 



1584] The Ralegh Colonists, 1 584-1 ^go 



35 



its suitability for European occupation. They visited the 
bays and inlets around Cape Hatteras. Returning they 
reported the new land to be " the most plentiful, sweet, 
fruitful, and wholesome of all the world." As for the na- 
tives, they were " void of all guile and treason, and such as 
live after the manner of the Golden Age." The English 
called the country Virginia and Elizabeth knighted Ralegh 
for his trouble and expense. 

In 1585, Sir Walter Ralegh fitted out seven ships for an 
expedition to the New World. The commander was Sir 
Richard Grenville. Years later in Drake's old flagship, the 
Revenge, he battled gallantly with fifty-three Spanish ships 
as splendidly described by Lord Tennyson. Grenville 
landed an exploring party on Roanoke Island which stands 
between Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, and then sailed away 
to furthur prosecute his voyage. The explorers soon ex- 
hausted their food supply and would have starved had not 
Sir Francis Drake, returning homeward from one of his later 
voyages, carried them back with him (1586). Not many 
weeks later, Grenville himself returned to Roanoke with 
more explorers and provisions for two years. Finding the 
island abandoned, he left a small party there and again 
sailed for home. By this time Ralegh was beginning to lose 
interest in America. He joined with him many merchants 
and influential men, some of whom belonged to the later 
Virginia Company. A large expedition was now fitted out 
to make a settlement on the shores of Chesapeake Bay 
which it was hoped would prove to be a good place for a 
colony (1587). Everything went badly for these colonists 
from the moment they reached America. They were landed 
on Roanoke Island, instead of on the shores of Chesapeake 
Bay and John White, their governor, returned at once to 
England for succor. He left his daughter and his little 
granddaughter, Virginia Dare — -the first child born of Eng- 
lish parents in America — with the colonists on Roanoke 
Island. The commg of the Spanish Armada delayed him, 
and when he again visited the place there was scarcely a 



" The Lost 
Colony," 
1587. Win< 
sor's Amer- 
ica, III, 
113-116; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
189-200. 



36 



Discovery and Exploration 



[§34 



Cause of the 
contest with 
Spain . 



Destruction 
of the 
Armada, 
1588. Old 
South Leaf- 
lets, VI, 
No. 6. 

Estabhsh- 
ment of 
England's 
sea power. 



sign of the colonists remaining, — the abandoned houses and 
the word "Croatoan" cut in the bark of a tree. 

34. The Spanish Armada, 1588. — Spain's existence as a 
great power depended in large measure on the supply of 
treasure which she received from the mines of Mexico and 
Peru. English seamen were constantly becoming more 
active in America, and in Europe were siding with her re- 
bellious subjects in the Netherlands. Many of the disputes 
between the two nations grew out of their religious differ- 
ences, for England was now Protestant, while Spain re- 
mained Catholic. Philip II decided to send a great fleet — 
the Spanish Armada — against England. For a time the 
fate of the Spanish monarchy and of English freedom hung 
in the balance. Every man and every ship were needed 
for the defense of the Enghsh nation and institutions, — for 
the moment, the colonists in Virginia must look out for 
themselves. 

The Spanish fleet should have left port in 1587, but 
Drake burned the store ships without which it could not 
sail, — ^ " Singeing the King of Spain's beard," he called it. 
In 1588, the Armada appeared in the English Channel. 
The Spanish vessels were a little larger than the English 
ships, but they were not suited at all to the vicious seas 
and winds of the Channel. Moreover, the English vessels 
were more heavily armed and were manned by the sea- 
farers of the coast towns, who had been fighting and beating 
Spaniards for the last twenty years, while the Spanish ships 
were crowded with soldiers. The heavier guns of the 
English were better handled than the lighter weapons of the 
Spaniards and the speed of the English ships enabled their 
captains to manoeuver to suit themselves. The very winds 
blew in England's favor and storms continued the work of 
destruction so hardily begun by Hawkins, Drake, and 
Grenville, and their brave "Men of Devon." Of the 120 
Spanish ships that entered the English Channel only 54 
returned to Spain. The sea power of Spain was broken, 
and Englishmen might found colonies on the unoccupied 



1588] Suggestive Questions and Topics 37 

shores of America in comparative security. The defeat of Importance 
the Soanish x-Xrmada, therefore, was an event of the first o'^^^ism 

1 1 • r- 1 1 American 

importance in the history of Engnsh colonization. With history, 
this great achievement, the period of discovery and ex- 
ploration closes and that of colonization begins. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§ 10. The Northmen 

a. Discuss the credibility of the sagas. 

fi. Compare the voyages of the Northmen with the early explorations 
of the Phoenicians. 

§§ 12, 14. Early Geographical Ideas 

a. What proofs that the earth is round were discovered by the 
ancients? 

/>. What further facts can you ascertain about Toscanelli and 
Behaim? 

§§ 13, 14. Columbus 

a. In what did Columbus's greatness consist? 

6. Represent upon an Outline Map the tracks of Columbus's ships 
and the lands which he visited, putting dates upon each. 

§ 16. The Cabot Voyages 

a. What event opened the way for England's colonial empire, and 
what events rendered its firm foundation possible? 

fi. Does the text of this history confirm or disprove the prop- 
osition : " History is a collection of problems, not a statement of 
facts"? Prove by quotations. 

§ 17. The Naming of America 

a. Is the name of a continent a matter of real importance? Give 
your reasons. 

d. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the tracks of all Italian 
seamen mentioned in this chapter, and the lands they discovered, 
putting upon every track and every region the name and date. 

§§ 18, 19. Circumnavigation of the Globe 

a. When did the Pacific Ocean first become important in the 
commerce of the world? Why? 



38 Discovery and Exploration 

f>. What long voyages preceded the circumnavigation of the globe? 
What discovery was made by each voyager? 

c. Represent in colors all these voyages upon an Outline Map with 
names and dates. 

d. Explain fully (by recitation) the map that you have made. 

§§ 20, 21. Florida and Mexico 

a. Keep in note-book a list of the different possessors of Florida 
from 15 13 to present time, giving to each date and manner of 
acquisition. 

/'. What is meant by " strategic importance "? Has the peninsula 
of Florida strategic importance? 

§§ 22, 23. The Atlantic Coast 

a. What effect did Verrazano's voyage have on the Spanish claim 
to Atlantic coast regions? 

b. By whom, and when, were about the same things done, and with 
what results? 

§§ 24-26. The Southwest 

a. How much of these sections is a connected story? Trace it 
upon an Outline Map and tell it. 

b. What importance had each event mentioned in these sections in 
establishing the Spanish claim to North America? 

§§ 23, 27-29. The French in North America 

a. What American possession has France now? 

b. Bring to class a brief topical analysis of French history, 1492- 
1550. Who were the Huguenots? 

§§ 16, 30-34. The English in North America 
(See questions on § 16.) 

a. Bring to class a brief analysis of English history from I497 to 
1558- 

b. If Magellan's ship circumnavigated the globe in 1520, why is so 
much said of Drake's voyage around the world? 

c. Has the story of the Ralegh colonies any real importance in 
American history? Give reasons for your answer. 

d. What issues did the defeat of the Spanish Armada settle? 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 39 

Historical Geography 

a. Represent in colors upon three Outline Maps " Territorial History 
of the Spanish, the French, the English, in North America," coloring 
all territory discovered, explored, or settled by each nation before 1600. 
Place names and dates in proper places. Whenever, in the course of 
the narrative, territorial possessions changed hands, note such change 
on these maps and add new maps as often as clearness demands. 

d. Make a sketch map of your own state, marking on it changes in 
possession or settlement as you come to them in your study. Place 
names and dates in proper places. 

General Questions on Chaiter as a Whole 

(7. The work of what men, or group of men, mentioned in this chap- 
ter has had largest and most lasting effect upon history? Give your 
reasons. 

d. Select all disputed points mentioned in this chapter; in each 
case give the evidence for and against, and draw conclusion. 

c. Make digest of whole chapter, centralizing the topics as much as 
possible under inclusive heads, and inserting all dates. 

d. In recitation hour write this digest rapidly. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

The reports to be in the student's own words, and to be detailed 
accounts written from the sources. In this and later lists the numbers 
in parentheses refer to sections of this book containing references to 
original sources. 

a. The yoyage of Leif Ericsson (§ 10). 

f>. Columbus's first voyage (§ 14). 

c. The first Cabot voyage (§ 16). 

d. Coronado's explorations (§ 25). 

e. Cartier's first voyage (§ 27) . 

/. Amadas and Barlowe's explorations (§ ^^). 



CHAPTER II 

COLONIZATION, 1600-1660 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Higginson's Larger History, 140-168, 192- 
202; Thvvaites's Colonies, 35,45-77. 81-87, 1 13-164, 196-202, 207- 
210, 246-252 ; Fisher's Colonial Era, 30-50, 62-72, 82-148, 177-190 ; 
Fiske's Civil Government, 140-151. 

Special Accounts. — Channing's United States, I, chs, vi-xix ; 
Winsor's America ; Dexter's Story of the Pilgrims ; *Arber's Story of 
the Pilgrim Fathers; Yiske's Beginnings of JVew England; * Palfrey's 
New England ; Roberts's .V^w York; Browne's Maryland; Cooke's 
Virginia ; Larned's History for Ready Reference, under names of 
states. On conditions in England : Gardiner's Students' History ; 
Iligginson and Clnanning, English History for Americans. See also 
♦Freeman's English People in its Three Homes ; *Borgeaud's Rise of 
Modern Democracy ; *Bryce's American Commomvealth (abridged 
edition). On French colonization: Parkman's Pioneers (Ed. 1887) 
and La Salle ; Bourinot's Stoiy of Canada. 

Sources. — * Records of Massachnsetts Bay Cotnpany ; *\Vinthrop's 
A^ew England ; Bradford's Plymouth Plantation ; *Hening's Statutes 
of Virginia ; * Archives of Maryland ; American History Leaflets ; 
Old South Leaflets ; Higginson's American Explorers; Stednian and 
Hutchinson's Library of American Literature ; * Hart's Contempo- 
raries, I ; MacDonald's Documentary Sotirce Book. 

Maps. — MacCoun's Historical Geography ; Winsor's America, and 
Mississippi Basin. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American LListory, §§ 37, 43, 114-141. 

Illustrative Material. —Mrs. Austin's Standish of Standish and 
other stories; Wz.\v\}[^QXx^e% Grandfather's Chair ; Mrs. Child's //o/'(7- 
mok; Mrs. Cheney's Peep at the Pilgrims ; Motley's Merry Mount; 
M. E. Wilkins's Adventures of Ann ; Dix's Soldier Rigdale ; I>ong- 
fellow's Miles Standish; Whittier's Cassandra Sotithwick and other 
poems; '&yr\n&x'% Penelope's Suitors; Drake's New England Legends ; 
* Lowell's Among My Books (" New England Two Centuries Ago ") ; 

40 



1603] 



The French in Acadia and Canada 



41 



Irvmg^s J^nickerbocker History; Paulding's Dutchman'' s Fireside and 
other stories ; Stedman's Peter Stuyvesanf s Ne7v Year's Call ; Y^&n- 
■nedy^?, I\ol> of the Bowl ; Cooke'ii Stories of the Old Dominion; Eggles- 
ton's Pocahontas and Poivhatan ; Caruthers's Cavaliers of Virginia. 



COLONIZATION, 1 600-1 660 

35. The French in Acadia and Canada. — The French were 
the first to take advantage of the decline of Spanish power, 
for Henry IV, the masterful king of France, greatly desired 
to found a colonial empire. In 1603, he appointed Sieur 
de Monts, Lieutenant General of Acadia, and authorized 
him to colonize lands between forty and forty-six degrees of 
north latitude, or from Philadelphia to Halifax. The next 
year (1604) De Monts led a band of colonists to the Bay of 
Fundy and settled on an island in the mouth of the St. 
Croix River. The situation 
was not a good one and the 
colony was soon removed to 
the eastern side of the bay. 
The new settlement was called 
Port Royal, but later was named 
by the English Annapolis. 
The most remarkable figure 
among these early French col- 
onists was Champlain. He 
was a great explorer, an ex- 
cellent observer, and good 
draughtsman, and a graceful 
writer. Instead of remaining 
quietly on the shores of the 

Bay of Fundy, he voyaged along the coast as far south as 
Plymouth Harbor which he called Port San Louis. A few 
years later, he founded the town of Quebec (1608), dis- 
covered Lake Champlain (1609), and visited Lake Huron 
(1615). The English seized the French settlements at 
various times between 1609 and 1629, but in 1632, they 
were all restored to France by the Treaty of St. Germain. 



Settlement of 
Acadia, 
1604. Amer- 
ican History 
Leaflets. No. 
16. Park- 
man's 
Pioneers, 
245-257. 




Champlain's 

explorations, 

1604-14. 

Parkman's 

Pioneers, 

245; *Win- 

sor's Cartier; 

Higginson's 

Explorers, 

269-278. 



42 



Colonization 



[§36 



Gosnold's 
voyage, 1602. 
Winsor's 
America, 
III, 172; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
203-213. 

Weymouth's 
voyage, 1605. 
Winsor's 
America, 

111,174; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
213-221. 



Limits of 
Virginia, 
1606. Hins- 
dale's Old 
Northwest, 
72 ; American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 16, 
P-3- 



The French colonies grew very slowly; in 1699 there were 
not one thousand French settlers in the lands to the south 
of the St. Lawrence River. 

36. Revival of English Enterprise. — There was great so- 
cial unrest in England in the last portion of Elizabeth's reign. 
Numbers of persons were obliged to seek their livelihoods in 
new and untried directions. All eyes turned to foreign lands 
and many expeditions were made to American shores. 
Among these were three voyages to the New England coast 
that aroused interest in England. The first of these was 
that of Bartholomew Gosnold to the coast of Massachusetts 
in 1602. He not only explored the shores; he also built a 
trading house on one of the Elizabeth Islands, off the southern 
shore of Massachusetts and filled his vessel's hold with a 
valuable cargo. The next year, Martin Pring visited Plym- 
outh Harbor and, like Gosnold, profited by his trade with 
the Indians. The voyage which attracted most attention 
was that of George Weymouth to the coast of Maine in the 
summer of 1605, for he reported that the climate of that 
region was well suited to nutmegs and tropical plants and 
that the signs of gold were abundant. 

37. The Virginia Company, 1606. — Meantime, Ralegh 
had fallen under the displeasure of the new king, James I, 
who seized his property, including Virginia. In 1606, James 
granted the first Virginia charter. In this document Virginia 
was defined as extending from the thirty-fourth to the forty- 
fifth degree of north latitude ; or from the Cape Fear River 
to the Bay of Fundy. The members of the corporation 
formed under this charter resided in or near London, and 
also in the southwestern part of England in the vicinity of 
Plymouth in Devonshire. The company was divided into 
two subcompanies corresponding to this geographical divi- 
sion among its members : to the Londoners the king gave 
the sole right to colonize the territory between thirty-four 
and thirty-eight degrees of north latitude, or between the 
Cape Fear and Potomac rivers; to the Plymouth men he 
gave a similar right to plant colonies between fortv-one and 



t6o6] 



The Virginia Company 



43 



forty-five degrees of north latitude or between the Hudson 
River and the Bay of Fundy. The intervening region, 
stretching from the thirty-eighth to the forty-first degree of 
north latitude, was left open for competition between the 
two subcompanies. This arrangement was devised, to use 
the words of the charter, " for the more speedy accomplish- 
ment of their said intended planta- 
tion " ; but it led to nothing of the 
kind. 

38. The Popham Colony, 1607. — 
Sir John Popham, Chief Justice of 
England, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
and the Gilberts were the leading 
members of the Plymouth Company, 
or subcompany, to be more accurate. 
On May 31, 1607, George Popham, 
brother of the Chief Justice, and 
Ralegh Gilbert, with a well-appointed 
fleet, sailed for the coast of what is 
now the state of Maine, intending to 
found a colony there. They landed 
at the mouth of the Kennebec River, 
built a fort, and explored the coun- 
try. The Indians were unfriendly, 
there was no gold anywhere to be 
found, and, instead of the climate being suited to tropical 
plants, the winter was severe beyond anything that they had 
ever conceived. In the following spring (1608) they aban- 
doned the enterprise and returned to England. 

39. Jamestown, 1607. — The London Company had 
likewise made preparations to explore the portion of Vir- 
ginia that the king had assigned to it. The treasurer or 
head of this group was Sir Thomas Smythe, who was also 
governor of the English East India Company. In sending 
out the first explorers, he hoped that they might find a new 
route to India and pick up enough gold from the natives to 
pay the expenses of the expedition. The first fleet left the 




Virginia, 1606 



The London 
Company. 



44 



Colonization 



[§ 40 



Founding of 
Virginia, 
1607 Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, III, 127- 
137 ; • Con- 
temporaries, 
I, Nos. 62, 
6q; Higgin- 
son's Explor- 
ers, 231-265. 

Smith's True 
Relation in 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 27 



New charter, 
1609. Hins- 
dale's Old 
Northwest, 
73-78; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 16, 
P-5- 



Charter of 

J6l2. 



Thames in midwinter, 1606-1607. In tlie following May, 
it reached the capes of the Chesapeake, which were named for 
the two sons of King James — Cape Henry and Cape 
Charles. The explorers built a fort on the banks of the 
southernmost of the many rivers which flow into the bay, 
naming the river and the fort after the king. The trials and 
adventures of the members of this little band can be best 
understood by reading the quaint True Relation which was 
written by Captain John Smith, the most capable man 
among them. The explorers had brought little food with 
them from England and they could get little from the natives. 
Hunger weakened them and made them easy victims to 
malaria and lung diseases. Of the one hundred and five 
first comers, fifty died within six months. One reason for 
this ill success was the lack of any spur to laborious exertion. 
The expedition was conducted on a military basis, each man 
laboring for the common benefit and being fed out of the 
common store. 

40. The Virginia Charters of 1609 and 1612. — In 1609, 
the London group of the original Virginia Company was 
given a new charter making it a corporation separate from 
the Plymouth group. The king also gave it more authority 
over its colonists. The limits of the territory of the new 
Virginia Company were to be two hundred miles from Old 
Point Comfort in either direction along the coast " and all 
that space and circuit of land, lying from the seacoast of 
the precinct aforesaid, up into the land throughout from sea 
to sea, west and northwest." These phrases were most 
indistinct for which line should be run westward and 
which northwestwardly ? If the northern line were run 
westward and the southern line northwestward, Virginia 
would be triangular in shape,and would not extend from 
sea to sea. If the southern line were drawn westward and 
the northern line northwestward, Virginia would extend from 
sea to sea, but would include nearly all of North America. 
In 161 2, the king granted the Virginia Company still another 
charter, including Bermuda within its limits and giving it 



i6ii] 



Dale's Administration 



45 



nearly complete self-government. It was also authorized 
to hold general meetings of all the freemen or stockholders of 
the company. These meetings were called General Courts 
and were to be held at London. 

41. Dale's Administration. — In 16x1 Sir Thomas I^ale 
was appointed ruler of the colony. He was a strict disci- 



Dale's ad- 
ministration. 








Av 


-^P 


U. 


4\t 


^'^<^M 


n^ - 


iis-y 




^ 


s 




^ ,^ r- 


R> 


^ 


^1 


r 



Virginia. 1609 

plinarian. As he sailed into the James River, he saw two Winsor's 

men reclining on the banks ; he sent for them and set them 

to work. As one means of arousing self-interest, he granted 

three acres of land to each of the old planters and in this 

way began the destruction of the system of common living 

that had so far hampered the colony's prosperity. Governor 

Dale's rule is chiefly remembered on account of the severe 

system of law which was prepared in England and given to him 

to execute. These laws provided that every man and woman 

in the colony, twice each day, should hear divine service or 

go without food for the first omission of this duty. For the 



America, III, 
137-141- 



" Dale's 
Laws," 1611. 



46 



Colonization 



[§ 42 



Religious 
observances. 



Tobacco 
culture. 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
83- 



The Puritans 
and the 
colonists. 



Virginia 
Assembly, 
1619. Con- 
temporaries, 
I. No. 65. 



second offense the culprit was to be whipped, and for the 
third to serve in the galleys for six months. Furthermore, 
all persons were to satisfy the minister of their religious 
soundness or place themselves under his instructions; for 
neglecting this duty the offender should be whipped every 
day until he repaired to the minister for further instruction. 
No man should speak against the articles of the Church of 
England under pain of death, and the profane curser was 
to have a bodkin thrust through his tongue ; if that did not 
convert him from the errors of his way, he should suffer 
death. 

That Virginia enjoys the distinction of being the first 
permanent English colony to be founded in America is due 
mainly to the rapidity with which mankind adopted the 
practice of using tobacco in one form or another. The 
Czar of Russia decreed that smokers should have their 
noses cut off, but this and other prohibitions were in vain, 
and the tobacco habit spread throughout Christendom faster 
than any religion or language has ever spread. From the 
moment that the production of tobacco became profitable, 
the future of Virginia was assured. 

42. Introduction of Representative Institutions. — The Vir- 
ginia Company now fell into the hands of the Puritans and 
in 1 6 19, Sir Edwin Sandys, one of their leaders in the House 
of Commons, displaced Sir Thomas Smythe as treasurer. 
The Puritans believed in the civil equality of man. To 
them a colonist was as good as a resident of England. In 
1 6 19, they sent Sir George Yeardley as governor, instructing 
him to summon two burgesses to be freely elected by the 
inhabitants of each plantation. These were to meet with 
him and the council to form a General Assembly. He 
at once carried out his instructions and the first represent- 
ative body in the history of America met in the church at 
Jamestown in 1619. They at once repealed the old laws 
and substituted a much milder code. Every one was still to 
attend divine service according to the rites of the Church of 
l^gland twice each Sunday; but the penalty for staying 



1 619] Early Virginia 47 

away was reduced to three shillings for each offense. Other 
new laws sought to make the colonies self-supporting by 
limiting the production of tobacco and encouraging the 
cultivation of food stuffs. 

43. Introduction of Forced Labor. — Many men of sub- indentured 
stance and ability now came to Virginia ; they acquired great servants, 
tracts of land and grew tobacco on a large scale. The 

chief difficulty was to find enough cheap unskilled laborers 
to clear the land and care for the tobacco plants. Convicts, 
runaways, and children who had been kidnapped were sent 
to Virginia to be bound out as servants or apprentices for a 
term of years or for the rest of their lives. Many poor but 
respectable persons gladly adopted this means to secure a 
new start in the world. These were the indentured servants, 
or "indented servants" as they were usually termed in the 
colonies. In 16 19, the very year that saw the establishment Negro 
of representative institutions, a vessel sailed into the Tames ^ '^^^'>' 

1 ' -' introduced, 

River with twenty negroes on board. These were sold to 1619. 
the planters as slaves. For many years the Virginians pre- 
ferred to employ white servants instead of negroes, and it 
was not until the middle of the century that there were 
many slaves. 

44. Overthrow of the Virginia Company. — King James The end of 
did not at all like the Puritans for they did not heed his re- **''' Virginia 

^ Company, 

quests. The General Courts of the Virginia Company gave 1624. 
them a convenient opportunity to plan opposition to his 
measures. He determined to destroy the company, but as 
war with Spain had begun again, he was obliged to proceed 
with great caution. He appointed a commission to collect 
evidence against the company in Virginia and to arouse 
the colonists' animosity against their rulers. This plan did 
not succeed, but an Indian massacre (1622) gave the gov- 
ernment the opportunity to charge the company with fail- 
ure to protect the settlers, and two years later the charter 
was annulled. 

45- Virginia under the Royal Governors, 1624-1652. — 
The first royal governors enjoyed about the same powers 



48 



Colonization 



[§46 



The 

Assembly 
of 1627. 



Opposition 
to Governor 
Harvey. 



Sir William 
Berkeley. 



Execution of 
Charles I. 



that Yeardley had exercised ; but it is not certain that as- 
sembhes were held in the early years of royal rule. James 
died in 1625 and the new king, Charles I, needed funds to 
enable him to govern England without holding a parliament 
(§59). Under these circumstances, some one hit upon the 
idea that a handsome profit might be made from a royal 
monopoly of the tobacco trade. The cooperation of the 
Virginians was necessary to the success of this plan and a 
General Assembly was held at Jamestown in 1627 to secure 
their consent to the scheme. They refused to have any- 
thing to do with it ; but the holding of the assembly was im- 
l)ortant as it proved to be the precedent for the summoning 
of legislative bodies thereafter in all of the royal provinces. 

John Harvey was the first royal governor to attract much 
attention. He won the planters' hatred by his arbitrary 
conduct. Besides, he felt obliged to forward the king's 
wishes as to the settlement of Maryland. This made him 
still more unpopular, because that province had been carved 
out of Virginia, and, indeed, included some lands that had 
been improved by some of the leading men in the colony. 
The Virginians arrested him, sent him to England to answer 
their complaints, and some of them even crossed the Atlan- 
tic to lay their case before the king. Harvey was soon sent 
back, but little was done to punish the colonists for their 
contempt of the king's representative. 

In 1 64 1 Sir William Berkeley was appointed governor of 
Virginia. His rule was the longest in colonial history, last- 
ing until 1652, and again from 1659 to 1676. During the 
first of these periods the Puritans appeared in Virginia and 
made many converts to their peculiar beliefs. Berkeley and 
the leading men were alarmed at their success and made 
sharp laws against them. In the end most of them crossed 
the Potomac to Maryland or went to New England. 

46. Virginia during the Puritan Supremacy. — While 
Berkeley had been governing faithfully for king and church 
m Virginia, both king and church had succumbed to the 
Puritans (§59) in England. The execution of Charles I 



[641] 



Early Virginia 



49 



aroused no answering echo in the Old Dominion. On the 
contrary, Berkeley sought to convert the colony into an 
asylum for the party which had suffered defeat in England ; 
but the second Charles and his followers generally preferred 
the luxury of European exile to the wilderness of America. 

The Puritans, now supreme in England, offered most gen- 
erous terms to the colonists of Virginia, Maryland, and New 
England,^ — ^ nothing less than free trade between the colonies 
and the mother country, on condition that the colonists 
would confine their commerce to England. As the case 
then stood, the proposition was for free trade within the 
British Empire, much as there is now free trade within the 
United States. The Virginians would have none of it. For 
a few years the affairs of Ireland and Scotland occupied the 
energies of Cromwell and his men. In 1652 they turned 
their attention for a moment to the rebellious colony ; a 
small fleet sailed across the x^tlantic, and the Virginians 
surrendered without striking a blow. The terms offered by 
the conquerors were singularly liberal ; the colonists were 
required to recognize the authority of the Commonwealth ; 
in other respects they were left to govern themselves. For 
six years the Virginians elected their own governors, en- 
joyed the most complete independence they ever had be- 
fore 1776, and were very prosperous. In 1659, on the fall 
of the Protectorate in England, they chose Berkeley as gov- 
ernor, and he was in office in 1660, when Charles II was 
restored to the English throne. 

47. The Calverts and Maryland. — George Calvert and 
Cecilius, his son, were two remarkable men. They held 
broad and statesmanlike views and deserve the greatest 
credit for the liberal spirit which they displayed in the man- 
agement of their colonies. They had a twofold reason for 
the founding of Maryland ; they desired to build up great 
landed estates and also hoped to establish an asylum for 
their fellow Catholics. George Calvert, the first Lord Bal- 
timore, was a prominent man in England during the last 
years of the reign of James and the first years of the rule of 



The Puritans 
and Virginia, 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
69. 



Reasons for 
founding 
Maryland. 
Winsor's 
America, III 

517-529; 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
72. 



50 



Colonization 



[§48 



Charles. At some time before 1625, he became a Roman 
Catholic and actively embarked in schemes of colonization. 
His first venture was a settlement in Newfoundland that 
ended in failure. He then transferred the scene of his 
colonial enterprise to the warmer climate of Virginia and 

obtained from the 
king the grant of a 
large tract of unoccu- 
pied land north of the 
Potomac. George 
Calvert died before 
the charter was ac- 
tually issued and it 
was given to his son 
Cecilius. 

48. Boundaries of 
Maryland. — The 
Hmits of the new 
province were set 
forth with great inex- 
actness in the charter. 
The king's intention was to give Baltimore all the unsettled 
part of Virginia north of the southern bank of the Potomac and 
south of the fortieth parallel which was the southern bound- 
ary of New England according to the charter of 1620 (§ 51). 
The new colony was assigned a definite western boundary, 
the meridian of the source of the Potomac. And across the 
Chesapeake, Maryland extended to the Atlantic Ocean north- 
ward of "Watkins' Point." On paper these boundaries 
seemed very simple-, but in reality it proved to be very diffi- 
cult to determine which was the true source of the Potomac, 
what was its southern bank, and where was Watkins' Point. 
The disputes that arose over these boundary lines are very 
important in our history and will be studied at length in 
later sections (§§ 88, 172, 179). 

49. Government of Maryland. — Maryland was made a 
province under the crown, and the Barons of Baltimore, as 




Charters of New England and Maryland 



[649] 



Early Maryland 



SI 



proprietaries, were given extensive powers of government. 
One important limitation of their authority should be noted ; 
they could make laws and levy taxes only with the consent 
of the freemen. This made it necessary to hold assemblies 
from the beginning and disputes at once began over the making 
of laws. Baltimore held that he could draw them up as he 
pleased, the freemen having a right to accept or reject 
whatever he proposed. The freemen claimed that they had 
an equal right with the proprietary in initiating legislation. 
They refused to consent to a code of laws that he drew up 
and sent out from England. As he could not collect any 
money that was due him in the colony until there were laws 
there, he was obliged to yield, and at the outset lost much 
of the power which he had hoped to exercise. 

50. The Act Concerning Religion, 1649. — The leading 
colonists of Maryland were for the most part Roman Catho- 
lics, but many of the settlers, including some important men, 
were Protestants. After a few years many Puritans entered 
the colony from Virginia and their friends were fast gaining 
the upper hand in England. It was under these circum- 
stances that the Maryland Assembly passed an act to the 
effect that no one should be molested for his religious belief, 
provided he were a Christian. This is one of the most mem- 
orable colonial laws of the period, but at the time of its pas- 
sage there was absolute religious freedom in Rhode Island, 
owing to the liberal spirit of Roger Williams, the Puritan 
leader of that colony. As to the Maryland law, it seems 
probable that it was drawn up in England by Lord Baltimore, 
with the aid of the Jesuits ; but it may have been amended 
by the colonial assembly before its final passage. Soon af- 
terwards, in the time of the Protectorate, the Puritans be- 
came supreme in Maryland and acted oppressively toward 
the Catholics. In 1657, these disputes were arranged, 
the authority of Lord Baltimore and the old laws being 
restored. 

51. The Council for New England, 1620. — For years after 
the failure of the colony at the mouth of the Kennebec 



Authority ot 
the proprie- 
tary. 



Religion. 
Browne's 
Culverts, 
clis. vi, viii ; 
Winsor's 
America, III 
533-536 ; 
*Co>i tem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 84. 



52 



Colonization 



[§S2 



Council for 
New Eng- 
land, 1620. 
Winsor's 
America, III, 
295; Ameri- 
can History 
Leaflets, No. 
16, p. 7. 



The 

Puritans. 

Fiske's New 

liiigland, 

50-66; J. R. 

Green's 

Short 

History. 



The 

I'ilgrims. 

Winsor's 

America, 

III, iz,-j-7fyii ; 

Dexter's 

Pilgrims, 

pp. 61, 117; 

Fiske's New 

England, 

71-75- 



(§ 38), no English colonists came to the shores of Northern 
Virginia. The success of the tobacco planters on the James 
River aroused the interest of the survivors of the Plymouth 
Company under the charter of 1606 (§ 37). With some new 
associates, they obtained from the king a new patent (1620), 
granting them all America between forty and forty-eight 
degrees of north latitude under the name of New England. 
They never accompHshed much in the way of colonization, 
but acted rather as a great land company. The settlement 
of New England was due to other men who left their native 
land on account of rehgion, although many of them were 
also impelled by self-interest. 

52. The English Puritans. — The English Reformation 
resulted in the separation of the church in England from 
the existing Catholic church. This was as far as the English 
monarchs and the mass of the English people wished to go, 
but there were many earnest persons who desired to proceed 
much farther and to purge the English church of what they 
deemed to be abuses. These reformers were called Puri- 
tans, and were themselves divided into two groups, which 
shaded one into the other. The more conservative of them 
were the Nonconformists, who desired to reform the Church 
of England while remaining members of it. The more rad- 
ical ones were willing to separate entirely from the church, 
provided they could worship God in their own way \ these 
were known as the Separatists. 

53. The Pilgrims. — Among the Separatist congregations 
was one which met in the house of William Brewster in the 
little hamlet of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire. With the com- 
ing of James, these, with other Puritans, were persecuted 
because he was determined to make them conform or 
"harry them out of the land." Some of them sought an 
asylum in Holland, at Leyden, where they enjoyed freedom 
to worship God according to the dictates of their con- 
sciences (1608). There, they remained several years, lead- 
ing such laborious lives that many of their friends " preferred 
the prisons of England to such liberty as this was." At 



i62ol 



Settlement at Plymouth 



53 



length, to better their worldly condition and to provide for 
their posterity, they determined to make another pilgrimage. 
They feared also that their children would lose their English 
speech and habits. The venture was full of perils, but they 
felt that it was worth trying and realized that all important 
undertakings " must be both enterprized and overcome with 
answerable courages." The English Puritans were now in 
control of the Virginia Company and were very glad to give 
the Pilgrims permission to settle within the limits of Virginia. 
The emigrants also tried to get James to promise that they 
should not be molested in their new homes on account of 
religious differences. He refused to promise this, as it was 
suspected that they wished to found " a free popular state," 
but the king seems to have hinted that he would not molest 
them so long as they conducted themselves peaceably. 

54. The Pilgrim Compact, 1620. — After enduring .pri- 
vations unknown to emigrants of our time, the Pilgrims in 
the Mayflower zxichored off Cape Cod (November, 1620), 
and found themselves obliged to settle in that region. As 
they were outside of the limits of Virginia, they were obliged 
to make new provision for their government, and drew up a 
compact which is reproduced on the next page from the 
original manuscript. The document was signed by nearly 
all the men of the Pilgrim band, who thus agreed to be bound 
by what was determined for the public good. 

55. Settlement at Plymouth, 1620. — After careful explo- 
ration, while the Alay flower remained in what is now Prov- 
incetown harbor, the Pilgrims resolved, December 21, to 
settle on the shores of a haven which had been visited by 
Pring and Champlain. In 16 14 Captain John Smith also had 
sailed along the New England coasts and had printed a 
map on which English names were given to many important 
points ; among others, he called the Port St. Louis of Cham- 
plain, Plymouth. On December 16, old style, or December 
26 according to our mode of reckoning time, the Mayflower 
anchored in Plymouth harbor, and nine days later the work 
of building houses was begun. 



American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 29, 
p. 7. 



Voyage 
across the 
Atlantic. 
Dexfer's 
Pilgrims, 
oh. xiv. 

Bradford's 

Plymouth 

Plaittation ; 

American 

History 

Leaflets, No. 

29. 

The Pilgrim 

Compact, 

1620. 

Dexter's 

Pilgrims, 

ch. XV. 

Plymouth 
settled 1620. 



s 



H^N. 




violin ^5 1 ^ 



The Pilgrim Compact. Facsimile of Bradford's Manuscript 

(Reprinted in American History Leaflets, No. 29, p. 26) 

54 



[62o] 



Early Plymouth 



55 



The Pilgrims were attracted to this spot because the land 
was already cleared and there seemed to be no Indians in 
the neighborhood. It turned out that the natives, who had 
formerly lived on the shores of Plymouth harbor, had died 
of disease a few years before. Only one of the tribe was 
living; he soon appeared at Plymouth, was carefully and 
generously supported by the Pilgrims, and in return taught 
them how to win a scanty subsistence from the barren soil 
and icy waters around them. The Pilgrims also entered' 
into a treaty with Massasoit, the most powerful chieftain of 
southeastern New England, and this agreement both parties 
faithfully observed for more than half a century. Other 
Englishmen in the neighborhood were not so wise, and the 
Pilgrims found themselves obliged to interfere in order to 
prevent a general massacre. This work was splendidly done 
by Miles Standish, a man of cool and courageous bearing. 

56. The Pilgrims and Communism. — One half of the 
Pilgrims died in the first winter and those who remained 
alive could scarcely find enough to eat. Their troubles 
were due in part to the system of common labor, which 
has never had a fairer trial than it had at the hands of the 
Pilgrims at Plymouth. At length to avoid starvation, small 
plots of land were given to each family to be cultivated for 
their own use. Then all the settlers, men, women, and chil- 
dren, went into the fields and worked as hard as they could to 
raise food for their own use. After a few years the principal 
men of the colony joined together to carry on a trade in 
furs with the Indians on the Kennebec River. By the prof- 
its derived from this enterprise, they were able to pay off 
the debts that were due to English merchants who had pro- 
vided the funds for the original emigration and thus to 
secure a greater measure of comfort for all. 

57. Form of Government. — In the beginning the govern- 
ment at Plymouth was a pure democracy as far as the 
signers of the compact were concerned. For many years 
William Bradford was annually chosen governor ; but, when 
business increased with the growth of the colony, other 



Winsor's 
America, 
111,267-276; 
Fiske's New 
England, 

82-87 ; 

Higginson's 

Explorers, 
3"-337- 

The Pilgrims 
and the 
Indians. 
Dexter's 
Pilgrims, 
ch. xviii ; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
199-205. 



Starvation 

and 

prosperity. 



Government 

under the 
compact. 



56 



Colonization 



[§.58 



Representa- 
tive institu- 
tions. 



The Massa- 
chusetts 
Charter, 
1629. Old 
Soutk Leaf- 
lets, Gen. 
Ser., No. 7; 
Winsor's 
Boston, I, 99. 



The Cam- 
bridge 
Agreement, 
1629. 
Winsor's 
Boston, I , 
99-102 ; 
Contempo- 
raries, I , 
No. 106. 

Puritans, 
king, and 
archbishop, 
1629-40. 



men were elected to aid him in the discharge of his duties. 
Important matters were transacted at general meetings of 
the original signers and others whom they admitted to a 
share in the government. Before long, other towns were 
founded in the neighborhood. It then was inconvenient for 
all the voters or freemen to go to Plymouth to make laws. 
This led to the establishment of a representative system 
(1638), which was modeled on that of Massachusetts Bay 
(§ 61). All the freemen continued to take part in the 
annual election of officers, but the franchise was gradually 
restricted until it became really a religious qualification. 

58. The Massachusetts Bay Company, 1629.- — ^The 
Massachusetts colony had its origin in the desire of English 
Nonconformists to found a settlement where they could 
work out their own ideas in church and state. Some of 
them obtained a grant of land from the Council for New 
England, extending from three miles south of the Charles 
River to three miles north of the Merrimac, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific (1628). The next year the king, by 
royal charter, confirmed this grant and gave to the original 
grantees, and others whom they had associated with them, 
very extensive powers of self-government. Moreover, there 
was no requirement in this charter, as there had been in all 
earlier ones, that the meetings of the corporation should be 
in England. This omission enabled the company to trans- 
fer its government to America and thus the charter became 
really a constitution. The decision to do this was taken at 
Cambridge, England, in August, 1629, when many of the 
leading Puritans signed an agreement binding themselves to 
emigrate to the colony, provided they were able to govern 
themselves. In March, 1630, they sailed for Massachusetts, 
taking the charter with them. 

59. The Puritans in England. — The year of the signing 
the agreement at Cambridge marked the ending of the 
first period in the contest between the king and the Puritans, 
for in that year, he dismissed Parliament after a most violent 
scene, arrested those who had been foremost against him. 



[630] 



Massachusetts Bay 



57 



97-102. 



and seemed determined to govern England without Parlia- Fiske's New 
ments in the future. He now relied mainly upon the advice ^'yio.nd, 
of William Laud whom he soon made Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. They were both resolved to have the services of the 
Estabhshed Church carried on in precisely the way that 
was most offensive 



to the Puritans. For 
eleven years, the 
king and archbishop 
continued to govern 
with a high hand, but 
in 1640 a quarrel with 
the Scots compelled 
him to again summon 
Parliament. From 
that time on, the Puri- 
tans acquired more 
and more authority, 
until the decisive 
battle of Naseby 
(1645) made them 
masters of England. 
It was in the time of 
Puritan depression 
(1629-1640) that the 
colonies of Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, and New 
Haven were founded. 
The changed outlook 
in England put an 
end to the Puritan 
emigration. The movement, indeed, began in the other di- 
rection. Many leading New Englanders exercised great in- 
fluence in England during the time of the Commonwealth 
and Protectorate. 

60. The Great Emigration, 1630-1640. — Led by John 
Winthrop, a man of property and ability, a fleet of fifteen 




Charters of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Caro- 
lana, and Carolina 



58 



Colonization 



[§6o 



Settlement 
of Massa- 
chusetts, 
1628-30. 
Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 88-104 ; 
t^onlempo- 
rarics, I, 
^Jos. 56. 57 ; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
341-367- 



vessels sailed across the Atlantic to Massachusetts in 1630. 
More than one thousand colonists came over in this year 
and founded the towns of Boston, Charlestown, Roxbury, 
Dorchester, Watertown, and Newtown — later called Cam- 
bridge. Within ten years no less than twenty thousand im- 




John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts 



Morton at 
Merry- 
Mount. 
(Contempo- 
raries, I, No. 
103. 



migrants landed on the shores of Massachusetts Bay. There 
were already a few colonists living on the shores of Boston 
Harbor. These were generally well treated by the new- 
comers ; one of them, Thomas Morton, led a riotous life at 
Mount WoUaston or Merry Mount as he called it. The 
Puritans did not at all like his doings. They repeatedly 
arrested him and sent him away, but he returned again and 
again, and to revenge himself wrote a book giving an out- 
sider's view of Puritan institutions and manners. 



i63i] 



Early Massachusetts 



59 



6i. Problems of Government.^ — ^The charter of Massa- 
chusetts gave nearly all powers of government to the free- 
men or stockholders of the corporation. Only eight or 
twelve of them were in the colony in 1630, and were the 
rulers of the other thousand. Had they kept their powers 
to themselves and refused to admit others to the company, 
they would have established an oligarchy, but they pro- 
ceeded in a different spirit. In May, 1 631, one hundred and 
sixteen persons were admitted to the company ; but when 
this was done, laws were passed lessening the powers of the 
freemen and providing that in the future only Puritan church 
members should be admitted to the company. Not long 
afterwards the freemen became restless and demanded a 
sight of the charter. They saw at once that the supreme 
power was with the assistants and the freemen meeting to- 
gether in the General Court. Shortly before, John Cotton, 
one of the ministers at Boston, had declared that a man 
ought not to be turned out of his office so long as he dis- 
charged his duties faithfully. The freemen now repealed 
the law restricting their powers and elected Thomas Dud- 
ley governor in place of John Winthrop who had held that 
office since the departure from England. It is interesting 
to see how early this tendency towards democratic ideas 
showed itself in Massachusetts. The freemen soon found 
it inconvenient to exercise their hard won powers of gov- 
ernment in person. It was expensive to travel to Boston 
from the towns that had been settled along the seacoast and 
it was dangerous to leave their families unprotected against 
the Indians. They therefore established a representative 
system by which the freemen in each town deputed two of 
their number to act for them at the General Court. They 
also worked out a. clumsy mode of nominating candidates 
for office and also established a system of voting by ballots 
or papers. 

62. Attacks on Massachusetts. — The prosperity of the 
new colony aroused the jealousy of other Englishmen en- 
gaged in colonial enterprises, awakened the suspicions of 



The free- 
men of 
Massachu- 
setts. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 
105-109. 



Theii gov- 
ernment of 
the colony. 
Winthrop's 
Neiv Eng- 
land ; Con- 
tetnporaries, 
I, No. 107. 



Representa- 
tive govern- 
ment estab- 
lished, 1634. 



6o 



Colonization 



[§63 



Gorges at- 
tacks Massa- 
chusetts, 
1634-38. 
•Adams's 
Three Epi- 
sodes, I, 240; 
Fiske's New 
EnglaTid, 
111-113. 



Roger 
Williams 
at Boston 
and Plym- 
outh. 

Fiske's New 
England, 
114-116. 



Banished 
from Massa- 
chusetts. 
Dexter's 
As to Roger 
Williams, 



the English government, and attracted many restless spirits 
to Massachusetts. The Council for New England was di- 
vided into two parties, one of these was friendly to Win- 
throp and his comrades ; the other was more interested in 
colonizing lands just outside of Massachusetts. The second 
group was led by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. They were dis- 
mayed by the growth of the Puritan settlernents and ob- 
tained an order from the English judges which was intended 
to bring about the downfall of the Massachusetts Bay Com- 
pany. The colonial authorities paid no attention to it, and 
the king was so busily employed in England that he could 
not compel them to obey the court. The " disorders of the 
mother country," as VVinthrop remarked, " were the safeguard 
of the infant liberties of New England." 

63. Roger Williams. — Roger Williams, a Puritan min- 
ister, came to Massachusetts in 1631. He at once declared 
it to be wrong for the colonists to attend the parish churches 
in England, as their habit was when they went back to the 
home land to bring their families to the colony or to arrange 
their business affairs. He then went to Plymouth, where his 
Separatist views found a more sympathetic hearing. Before 
he had been there long, however, he attacked the legal 
soundness of every land title in the colony, and asserted 
that " King James had told a solemn public lie " in declar- 
ing in the New England Charter that he was the discoverer 
of the lands therein granted. Williams maintained that the 
settlers should have bought their lands of the Indians. 
Soon afterwards, he returned to Massachusetts and became 
the pastor of the church at Salem. There again he and the 
leading men of the colony began to disagree. Among other 
things, Williams asserted that the magistrates had no power 
to punish offenses against the Sunday laws. Finally, Wil- 
liams asked the other ministers to labor with the rulers to 
bring them to his way of thinking. The magistrates, on 
their part, ordered him to leave the colony. 

64. The Founding of Providence, 1636. — Williams now 
founded the town of Providence which was only a few miles 



1636] 



Founding of Rhode Island 



61 



south of the Massachusetts line. He had no grant from the 
king, but bought the land of the Indians. He founded his 
settlement on the basis of equality in the state and freedom 
in religious affairs, holding that the government had nothing 
to do with a man's religion. It is to Roger Williams, 
therefore, and to the founders of Providence that the student 
must look for the origin of one of the most important prin- 
ciples underlying the American form of government, — the 
separation of church and state which necessarily implies 
absolute religious freedom. For this Williams deserves a 
place with the most prominent statesmen of our country. 

The settlers in the new colony found it hard to understand 
the precise limitations of the new principle of government ; 
in their new-found freedom, they did many things which 
greatly annoyed Williams, and he wrote a letter explaining 
the meaning of liberty. In this remarkable writing he 
likened a state to a ship with officers, crew, and passengers, 
among whom were persons of many religions. Liberty of 
conscience turned upon these two hinges, — that none of the 
ship's company be forced to attend the ship's services, or 
prevented from holding his own services. The commander of 
the ship, however, ought to direct the ship's course, pre- 
serve order, and punish according to their deserts all who shall 
mutiny or assert that " there ought to be no . . . officers, be- 
cause all are equal in Christ, therefore no masters nor officers, 
no laws nor orders, no corrections nor punishments." 

65. Anne Hutchinson and her Adherents. — Roger Williams 
had scarcely departed from Massachusetts ere another dis- 
turber appeared to cause the authorities renewed perplexity. 
The newcomer was a gifted woman, by name Anne Hutch- 
inson. The doctrines that she preached were rather hazy. 
She set herself against the magistrates and ministers and 
naturally won their dislike. Many of the colonists at first 
favored her, especially the new governor, Henry Vane, son of 
the English Secretary of State. Winthrop and the old leaders 
slowly regained their former power. Vane departed for Eng- 
land and Anne Hutchinson was banished with her followers. 



Providence, 
1636. 
Greene's 
Rhode 
Island, 7-16. 

Religious 
freedom. 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
"5- 



Williams 

explains 

religious 

liberty. 

Arnold's 

Rhode 

Island, I, 

254- 



Anne Hutch- 
inson in Bos- 
ton. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 116- 
119; * Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 108. 



62 



Colonization 



[§66 



Rhode 
Island 
settlements, 
1637. Fiske's 
A'ew Eng- 
land, 163- 
168 ; Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 113. 

Providence 

Plantations, 

1647. 

Cjicene's 

Rhode Islandi 

23-27. 



Connecticut, 
1635-37. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
123-128 ; 
Walker's 
Thomas 
Hooker. 



The Pequod 
War. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 129- 
134- 



66. Settlements on Narragansett Bay. — The Hutchinson 
colonists founded two towns on Rhode Island — Portsmouth 
on the northern end and Newport on the southern. Still 
later another town was 'founded on the mainland by an 
eccentric but sincere person, Samuel Gorton. He had de- 
nied the legality of the governments at Plymouth and Rhode 
Island because they rested on compacts between the settlers 
and not on patents from the king. Even Providence proved 
to be unfriendly to him. Gorton secured land on the western 
side of Narragansett Bay and founded the town of Warwick. 
He soon fell under the displeasure of the Massachusetts 
people ; they arrested him and took him to Boston, but in 
the end were obliged to restore him to his hamlet. In 1643, 
Roger Williams obtained from the Puritan rulers of England 
a license permitting the towns on Narragansett Bay to join 
together in a federal union, if they so wished. But no action 
was taken until 1647. 

67. The Founding of Connecticut, 1635-1637. — Entirely 
unlike the feeble bands of refugees who settled the Narra- 
gansett towns were the numerous and well equipped colonists 
who founded Connecticut. The former had been banished 
from Massachusetts ; the latter left the older colony because 
they disliked the narrow spirit of its rulers, and also saw 
opportunities for material advancement in the fertile Con- 
necticut valley. In 1635 ai^d 1636, emigrants from Massa- 
chusetts founded three towns on the shores of the Connecticut 
River, which were afterwards called Hartford, Windsor, and 
Wethersfield. In 1635, John Winthrop, Jr., acting as agent 
for two Puritan noblemen established Saybrook Fort at the 
mouth of the Connecticut. It was scarcely more than a 
military post, but sufficed to maintain control of the valley 
against the Dutch. These settlements were hardly made 
before a dangerous Indian war broke out with the Pequods. 
The campaign was conducted with wonderful skill by Cap- 
tain John Mason and those with him and ended in the 
destruction of that Indian tribe. 

68. Connecticut Orders of 1638-1639. — The early history 



[63 si 



Connecticut 



63 



of Connecticut is important from a constitutional point of 
view. In the winter of 1638-39 tlie heads of famiUes of 
the three towns of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield 
met together and drew up a fundamental law, the Orders 
of 1638-39, which Bryce, an English writer on American 
politics, calls the "first truly political written constitution in 
history." The government established closely resembled 
that in operation in Massachusetts, except that there was no 
religious qualification for the voters. 

69. Extent of Connecticut. — The Connecticut colonists 
secured the rights as to land of the earlier grantees. These 
lands were limited on the east by the " Narragansett River," 
a stream which proved to have no existence. On this 
point a bitter contest arose with Rhode Island, which was 
finally decided by the English authorities against Connecti- 
cut ; in this way the Pawcatuck, a river which nowhere ap- 
proaches Narragansett Bay, became the eastern boundary 
of Connecticut. The western boundary of the latter colony 
under the grant above mentioned was the South Sea ; but 
all attempts of Connecticut men to settle in Pennsylvania 
and^New Jersey aroused fierce opposition. 

7©^) New Haven, 1638. — The settlement of New Haven 
was due to the energy and ability of two men, — John Dav- 
enport and Theophilus Eaton. The former was a Puritan 
minister, the latter a prosperous merchant of London and 
one of Davenport's principal parishioners. Silenced by 
Laud, Davenport interested Eaton in a scheme of coloniza- 
tion, and the two determined to found a colony where they 
could try an experiment in government on their own lines, 
as the Massachusetts people were trying one on theirs. 
They soon gathered a large band of colonists and founded 
the colony of New Haven (1638). In the government of 
their settlement, only church members had any share and 
great care was taken as to the admission of persons to 
church membership. Other churches and towns were soon 
founded in the vicinity and federated with the New Haven 
colony, and in 1662 they were all absorbed by Connecticut. 



Connecticut 
Constitution, 
1638-39. 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
120 ; O/d 
South Leaf- 
lets, Gen. 
Sen, No. 8. 



Connecticut 
boundaries. 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, 87. 



Reasons for 
founding 
New Haven, 
1638. Fiskels 
New Eng- 
land, 135. 



64 



Colonization 



[§7i 



The " Body 
of Liberties." 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 25, 
\\ 1,2, 18,42, 
46, 60. 



Formation of 
the New 
England 
Confedera- 
tion, 1643. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
153-161. 

Reasons for 
union. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 7. 



Rhode 
Island and 
Maine not 
admitted. 



71. The First New England Code of Laws, 1 641.— The 
freemen of Massachusetts had constantly pressed for the 
publication of a code of laws. Hitherto the magistrates 
had freely applied the general rules of English law and the 
commandments and precepts of the Bible to the settlement 
of cases as they arose. No man could be certain whether 
he were comrnitting an offense or not. As it was, the mag- 
istrates exercised great power and feared lest the publica- 
tion of a code of laws would give their enemies in England 
a chance to bring about the downfall of the company. So 
chey put off the making of a code by referring the matter to 
committees which never reported. The meeting of the 
Long Parliament changed the whole aspect of affairs ; the 
magistrates gave way and a code was drawn up and put 
into force. 

72. The United Colonies of New England, 1643. — Other 
settlements had been made along the New England coast 
in Maine and New Hampshire. There were many dis- 
putes between these colonies and Massachusetts, which fre- 
quently used her strength to enforce her own views against 
the rights of the others. In 1643, Massachusetts, New 
Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven entered into a 
league " for mutual help and strength in all our future con- 
cernements." They were surrounded by enemies; the 
Dutch on the west, the French on the north, and the In- 
dians on the frontier. The distance between the settlements 
on Massachusetts Bay and those on the Connecticut River 
prevented the formation of a general government and the 
establishment of a federation was the only way to strengthen 
their position. Neither the Rhode Islanders nor the settlers 
in Maine were included in this association. " Concerning 
the Islanders " wrote Elder Brewster of Plymouth, " we have 
no conversing with them further than necessity or huinanity 
may require." As to the people of Maine, Governor 
Winthrop of Massachusetts declared : " They ran a different 
course from us both in their ministry and in their civil ad- 
ministration ; for they had lately made Acomenticus (a 



[643] 



Articles of Confederation 



65 



poor village) a corporation, and had made a tailor their 
mayor, and had entertained one Hull, an excommunicated 
person and very contentious, for their minister." These 
two extracts show very clearly the light in which the colo- 
nists of Maine and Rhode Island were regarded by their 
fellow English settlers. 

73. Articles of Confederation. — The Articles should be 
studied in the original ; a few points only will be noted here. 
The federal bond was of the loosest description, as each 
colony retained its "perculiar jurisdiction" (Arts, iii and 
viii). Each colony sent two representatives or commis- 
sioners to the meetings of the Confederation ; this provision 
was most unfair to Massachusetts, as contributions in men 
and money were based on the fighting strength of the 
several colonies ; and she had to provide more men and 
money than all the rest put together. It was not long 
(1653) before she refused to be bound by the votes of the 
commissioners of the other confederated colonies and to take 
part in an Indian war ; the Massachusetts magistrates voted 
that they " did not see sufficient ground . . . and therefore 
dare not exercise our authority to levy force within our 
jurisdiction." This is the first nullifying ordinance in 
American history ; but Massachusetts acted on other 
occasions in an equally high-handed manner. The com- 
missioners possessed extensive functions on paper (Arts, vi 
and viii), and, when all the colonies were agreed, exercised 
more power than any other body of men then in America. 
The Articles also contain (Art. viii) a provision for the 
return of fugitive servants and escaped criminals, which 
is generally regarded as the precedent for the fugitive slave 
laws of a later time. A species of court to settle disputes 
between members of the Confederation was also provided 
(Art. xi). The Confederation was of the greatest assistance 
to all the New England colonies, and not merely to its 
Viembers ; it gave a weight to their dealings with the Dutch 
and the Indians which no single colony could have had ; 
and it carried the New England colonies through the most 

F 



Analysis of 
Articles of 
Confedera- 
tion. Ameri- 
can History 
Leaflets, 
No. 7. 



66 



Colonizalion 



[§74 



Independent 
spirit of the 
New Eng- 
landers. 



Dutch dis- 
coveries, 
Hudson's 
voyage. 
Winsor's 
America ; 
Higginson's 
Explorers, 
281-296 ; 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
38. 



dangerous Indian conflict of colonial times, — King Philip's 
War. 

It must not be supposed that the independent spirit 
which led to the formation of the Confederation was in any 
way lessened by the success of their Puritan friends in Eng- 
land. On the contrary, the New Englanders used the Puritan 
triumph in England to forward plans for the self-government 
of New England. In 1643 the Massachusetts General 
Court voted to omit the words " You shall bear true faith 
and allegiance to our sovereign lord King Charles " from 
the magistrate's oath and did not insert a new form of words 
acknowledging allegiance to the Long Parliament. At 
about the same time, some of the leading Puritans in 
England suggested that any legislation which Massachusetts 
desired would be enacted by Parliament ; but Winthrop 
declined the offer " lest in . , . after times . . . hostile 
forces might be in control, and meantime a precedent 
would have been established." Thus, more than a century 
before the passage of the Stamp Act, leading men in Massa- 
chusetts denied the legislative authority of Parliament over 
the colony. During the period of the Commonwealth, 
Massachusetts paid no attention to the Navigation Ordi- 
nances ; she did not proclaim Cromwell and declined to 
recognize Richard as Protector, although asked so to do. 
The Confederation, also, maintained the attitude of an 
independent state towards the French and the Dutch. 

74. The Dutch Settlements. — The people of the Neth- 
erlands, or the Dutch as we call them, were then foremost 
among the trading nations of the world, and the Dutch 
East India Company was the most successful commercial 
corporation in existence. Like the French and the English, 
the Dutchmen also turned their attention to American ex- 
ploration. In 1609, some Netherland merchants employed 
Henry Hudson, an English seaman, to sail across the Atlan- 
tic in search of a strait leading to India. He first sighted 
the coast of Maine, and then steering southward reached the 
Chesapeake. Turning northward, he entered what is now 



l62l] 



New Netherland 



67 



New York Harbor. Sailing up the river that now bears his 
name, he went as far as Albany, receiving on the way several 
parties of Indians with great kindness. At almost the same 
time Champlain was exploring the lake that bears his name, 
not one hundred miles away. He, too, met the natives and 
killed several of them. It happened that the Indians en- 
tertained by Hudson and warred on by Champlain belonged 
to the great Iroquois confederation. From that moment the 
Iroquois hated and dreaded the French; but they always were 
most friendly to the Dutch and by them were well treated. 

Following on Hudson's voyage, the Netherlanders estab- 
lished trading posts on Hudson River and explored the 
coast eastwardly as far as Boston Harbor, and southwardly 
to the Delaware. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company 
was established to trade in the lands bordering on the At- 
lantic. The first settlements in New Netherland were Fort 
Amsterdam on Manhattan Island and Fort Orange on the 
site of the present city of Albany. These were trading 
posts. It was not until 1623, that colonists began coming 
over. New Netherland did not prove attractive to settlers. 
In 1629, the Dutch West India Company tried to stimulate 
settlement by the establishment of patroonships or great 
estates, on which the owner or patroon should enjoy very 
extensive rights. The most enterprising directors of the 
company at once sent out agents to seize the best land. 
One of them actually appropriated the country around Fort 
Orange. In later years, this system was modified, the trade 
of the colony was opened, and land was granted in small 
quantities on the payment of an annual rent. 

75. Governors Kieft and Stuyvesant. — ^In 1643, owing 
to the wretched mismanagement of William Kieft, who had 
been governor since 1638, the New Netherlanders became 
involved in a serious conflict with the Indians who lived in 
the vicinity of Manhattan Island ; the colony was nearly 
ruined and Kieft was recalled. He was replaced by Stuy- 
vesant, an able and energetic soldier, who had lost a leg in 
the company's service. Stuyvesant's administration was 



Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
39- 



Dutch trad- 
ing posts. 
Roberts's 
New York, I 
ch. iii. 



The patroon- 
ships. 



Kieft and 
Stuyvesant. 
Roberts's 
New York, I, 
chs. iv, V ; 
Tuckerman's 
Stuyvesant ; 
Contempora- 
ries, I, iXo, 
154- 



68 



Colonization 



[§76 



Swedish 
settlements. 
Roberts's 
Ne7tj York, 
I, ch. vii. 



The colonies 
in 1660. 



very despotic, as was that of all the Dutch governors. The 
people of New Amsterdam gained a few privileges of self- 
government in 1652, but Stuyvesant was able to deprive 
these concessions of nearly all their value. In his deahngs 
with the neighboring English colonies, he was not so suc- 
cessful. The Dutch claimed as far east as the Connecticut 
River, which had been discovered by one of their naviga- 
tors ; but the Confederation of New England was too pow- 
erful for Stuyvesant ; he was obliged to give way and to 
acknowledge the rights of the English settlers. Attracted 
by the advantages it offered, many Englishmen emigrated to 
New Netherland. Among them were some of the most 
important men of the Dutch colony. They taught their new 
associates the English hostility towards arbitrary rule, and the 
fall of New Netherland in 1664 seems to have been hailed 
with satisfaction by nearly all its inhabitants. 

76. The Swedes on the Delaware. — The Swedish settle- 
ments had their rise in the desire of Sweden's greatest king 
and one of Europe's greatest men, Gustavus Adolphus, to 
establish a colonial empire. It was not until after his death, 
however, that a beginning was made by the formation of a 
Swedish company, on the model of the Dutch and the Eng- 
lish trading corporations. The new colony was planted on 
the southwestern side of Delaware Bay, on ground claimed 
by the Dutch. At the moment the Swedes were the fore- 
most military power in Europe. The Netherlanders were 
practically under their protection, and could hardly refuse a 
few square miles of unoccupied land in America to such a 
necessary ally in Europe. In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia 
put an end to this state of affairs : the independence of the 
Netherlands was acknowledged by all the important powers ; 
there was no longer any necessity of dealing gently with the 
Swedish intruders; the Swedish colonists were conquered 
by Stuyvesant, and their territory again added to New 
Netherland (1656). 

77. Summary. — In 1660 the Puritan supremacy sud- 
denly came to an end : Charles the Second was restored to 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 69 

the throne occupied by his father, and a new page was 
opened in the history of England and of America. After 
sixty years of colonizing activity there were in North America 
the French settlers in the north, few in point of numbers but 
formidable on account of their organization and because of 
their influence with the natives — excepting the members of 
the League of the Iroquois. In the south, the Spaniards 
maintained a feeble colony in Florida, at St. Augustine, and 
there were a few Spaniards in the Southwest. On the Hud- 
son and the Delaware the Dutch were supreme. Between 
the Spaniards and the Dutch, and between the Dutch and 
the French, were English colonists. They occupied no 
great extent of territory, but they were more permanently 
fixed to the soil than were the French, the Dutch, or the 
Spaniards. They had established English home life and 
English institutions in their wilderness homes ; and they 
were practically self-governing. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§ 35. French Colonization 

a. Give a brief sketch of the career of Henry IV of France. 
6. What further facts can you ascertain about Champlain? 

§ 36. Revival of English Enterprise 

a. Give a brief sketch of the reigns of the Tudors. 
3. Have the voyages of Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth any real 
importance in American history? Why? 

§§ 37-46. Virginia 

a. Give a connected account of the Plymouth Company ; of the 
London Company. 

d. Place as headings in note-book, " Slavery," " Representative In- 
stitutions," " Limited Power of Congress," and enter under them all 
fitting matter as you proceed. 

c. Make a brief digest of English history, 1600-60, and place in 
parallel columns leading events in American history. 

a'. Compare conduct of Virginia and of Massachusetts during Puritan 
supremacy. Give causes of difference. 



yo Colonization 

§§ 47-50. Maryland 

f7. What events of vital importance in American history are con- 
nected with Maryland's western and southern boundaries? 

^ What matter in these sections must you enter in your note-book 
under " Representative Institutions " ? What under " Power of Con- 
gress" ? 

c. In Congress where does the right of initiative belong? Wherein 
the legislature of your own state? Where in the British Parliament? 

d. Does the word " toleration " prove that absolute religious freedom 
did not exist? (Jive your reasons. 

§§ 5i~57' Puritans and Pilc.rims 

a. Puritans, Nonconformists, and Separatists: carefully define and 
explain. 

d. What is a "pure democracy" ? Does any such exist at the pres- 
ent time? 

c. The " Pilgrim Compact " ; its formation and provisions. 

c/. Trace at length the history of Plymouth to 1643. 

§§ 5S-63. Massachusetts Bay 

a. Describe the struggle between the aristocratic and the demo- 
cratic elements in Massachusetts. 

i>. Was John Cotton's declaration identical with the principle em- 
bodied in the present Civil Service Law? Give your reasons. 

c. What in these sections will you note under " Representative 
Institutions " ? 

d. Do you blame the Massachusetts authorities for expelling Roger 
Williams or Mrs. Hutchinson? W'ere the two cases parallel? 

§§ 64-66. Rhode Island 

17. Roger Williams's place in history. Turn to passages in the 
Constitution which relate to this matter. How is it arranged in the 
constitution of your state? 

/>. Give Roger Williams's explanation of " liberty of conscience " ; 
of civil liberty. 

§§ 67-70. Connecticut 

a. What spirit prompted the settlement of Connecticut? cf New- 
Haven? 

6. Why did not Massachusetts need to draw up a written constitu. 
tion? 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 71 

c. Compare carefully the reason for the founding uf Massachusetts, 
of the first Connecticut towns, uf New Haven. What essential differ- 
ences can you discern? What common elements? 

§ 71. The Body of Liberties 

a. Were the English people accustomed to a written code of law? 
l>. Look up some brief analysis of Magna Charta {eg: Taswell- 
Langmead), and compare it with the Body of Liberties. 

c. Turn to Constitution and find passages which relate to matters in 
sections of the Body of Liberties noted on margin of § 71. Do the 
same with the constitution of your state, 

§§ 72, 73- The United Colonies of New England 

a. Were taxation and representation on the same basis in the New 
England confederation? 

d. Place in note-book as headings: "Nullification," "Fugitive 
Slave Laws," " Colonial Denials of Supremacy of Parliament," and 
enter all fitting matter as you proceed. 

§§ 74-76. The Dutch and the Swedes 

a. Give a brief sketch of history of Ilollantl to 1648, and add a 
briefer sketch of the Thirty Years' War. 

d. Consider at length how the fortunes of the world might have 
been changed had Champlain treated the Iroquois kindly. 

c. Do we owe any distinctive elements of our national progress to 
the Dutch settlers? Prove your statement. 

Historical Geography 

a. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map (i) the details of the 
Virginia charters (1606, 1609); (2) the boundaries of Maryland 
(1632); (3) the boundaries of New England (1620). 

6. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the boundaries of the 
New England colonies; Massachusetts (1629); New Netherland 
(1660). 

c. Make any necessary changes in the map of your own state. 

General Questions 

a. W^hat matter in this chapter must you enter in note-book under 
" Representative Institutions "? What under "Power of Congress"? 

6. Pick out all statements in this chapter which illustrate the char- 
acter and the spirit of the colonists of V^irginia, of Maryland, of Plym- 



y2 Colonization 

outh, of Massachusetts, of Rhode Island, of Connecticut, of New 
Haven, and of New Netherland. Put them side by side and state the 
results of your comparison. 

c. How many examples of federation does this chapter afford? 
State and compare, 

</. Give a bird's-eye view of the colonies in 1660. 

e. Make list of principal men in chapter, with dates; state under 
each man's name what he did. 

/. Make a brief conspectus of all charters, showing (i) to whom 
granted, (2) purpose of grantee, (3) extent of land granted, (4) where 
governing power resided, (5) fortunes of charter. 

Topics for Lnvestigation by Individual Students 
See directions under this head at end of Chapter I. 

a. The founding of Jamestown (§ 39). 

d. The first American Assembly (§ 42). 

c. Why did the Pilgrims come to America (§ 53) ? 

d. The Pilgrims, November-December, 1620 (§§ 54, 55). 

e. The trial of Mrs. Hutchinson (§ 65). 

/. The voyage of Henry Hudson, 1609 (§ 74). 



CHAPTER III 

A CENTURY OF COLONIAL HISTORY, 1 660-1 760 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Higginson's Larger History, 169-191, 203- 

223 ; Thwaites's Colonies, 50-61, 76-81, 196, 220 ; Hart's Fortnation 
of the Union, 2-41 ; Fisher's Colonial Era ; Sloane's French War and 
the Revolution; Hinsdale's Old Northwest, chs. iii and iv ; Fiske's 
Civil Government, 15 2- 1 58. 

Special Accounts. — Channing's Uttited States, Vol. II ; *Winsor's 
America, Memorial History of Boston and Cartier to Frontenac ; the 
state histories noted under Chapter II; Egle's Illustrated History of 
Pennsylvania; *Jones's Georgia; \^\\%0Vi^% Meinorial History of New 
York (city) ; *Janney's Life of Penn ; Larned's History for Ready 
Reference. On French exploration and colonization : Parkman's 
Jesuits, Pioneers, and La Salle ; Bourinot's Canada; Maurice Thomp- 
son's Story of Lotiisiana ; Grace King's New Orleans, For the expul- 
sion of the French, see : Parkman's Half Century of Conflict, Montcabn 
and Wolfe, and Conspiracy of Pontiac ; Irving's Life of Washington 
(abridged ed.) ; *D\inn^s Indiana ; *Hibberd's Wisconsin. 

Sources. — Chandler's Criminal Trials; 'Huchinson's Massachu- 
setts; Washington's Autobiography ; Yxz.Vi)^m''s Autobiography ; Amer- 
ican History Leaflets; Old South Leaflets ; *Hart's Contemporaries, 
MacDonald's Documentary Source Book. 

Maps. — Hart's Epoch Maps, Nos, 3, 4 ; MacCoun's Historical 
Geography ; Winsor's America and Mississippi Basin. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 37, 39, 46, 47, 120, 
121, 123-126, 142-148. 

Illustrative Material. — * Wendell's Cotton Mather ; Mason's Robert 
Cavelier ; Page's Tho)iias Nelson; *Hallowell's Quaker Invasion of 
Massachusetts ; Irving's Washington; Lodge's Washington; biographies 
of Franklin, Samuel Adams, Oglethorpe, and others, see Guide, §§ 39, 
46, 47. Lowell's Among My Books ("Witchcraft"); Longfellow's 
A'ew Englattd Tragedies and Evangeline ; Whittier's Pennsylvania 
Pilgrims, and Witch of Wenham ; Irving's Knickerbocker'' s History ; 
Bynner's Begum'' s Daughter; Seton's Charter Oak ; Cooke's Stories 

73 



74 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§78 



o/i/ie Old Dominion; Caruthers's Knights of the Golden Horseshoe; 
Cooper's Satanstoe, Watenvitch, Red Rover, and Leather Stocking 
Tales; YJ\x\^% Monsieur Motte ; Sinims's Cassique of Kiaivay ; Cather- 
wood's The Lady of Fort St. fohn. 



Clarendon 
and his 
colonial 
policy. 



The Naviga- 
tion Acts. 
Winsor's 
America, VI, 
5-10. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 19. 



George Fox 
and the ' 

Society of 
Friends. 
Hodgkins's 
George Fox. 
Winsor's 
America, 
111,469-473; 
Fiske's New 
England, 
179-181. 

The Quaker 
invasion, 
begins 1656. 



A CENTURY OF COLONIAL HISTORY, 1660-1760 

78. A New Era in Colonization. — Charles II was restored 
to the throne in 1660; his leading adviser was Lord Chan- 
cellor Clarendon. They found much to condemn in the 
existing state of affairs in the colonies. The New England 
Puritans were almost independent of the mother country and 
none of the colonists paid much attention to the commercial 
regulations that Parliament had made in the time of the 
Puritan supremacy. They set to work to revive the naviga- 
tion laws and to enforce the royal authority in America, 
The First Navigation Act, passed in 1660, provided that cer- 
tain colonial products should be carried direct from tiie 
plantations to England. These were enumerated in the act 
and were hence called the " enumerated goods " ; among 
them was tobacco. This policy was extended as time went 
on; but the colonists kept on disobeying whenever it was 
their interest so to do. 
_- 79- The Puritans and Quakers. — In the Puritan time, 
■ many new sects arose in England, among them the Society 
of Friends or Quakers. Their founder was George Fox, 
who possessed a clear mind and the ability to express his 
ideas in language which ordinary people qould understand. 
He taught that God still appears to men and women and 
reveals to them his will. All men were equal in the sight 
of God and tokens of respect were due to Him, alone. The 
Quakers declined to address judges and other officials by 
their ordinary titles as "Your Honor," etc. They refused 
to take the oath of allegiance or to swear to speak the truth 
in court, because the Bible commanded them to " swear not 
at all." The Puritans held diametrically opposite ideas. They 
believed that the period of divine revelation had ended and 
they demanded that all in authority should be treated with 



i656i 



The Puritans and the Quakers 



75 



every mark of respect. The first Quakers appeared in ; 
Massachusetts in 1656. They addressed the magistrates as' 
" hirelings, baals [priests of Baal], and seed of the serpent." 
The magistrates were not slow to take up the challenge, j 
They arrested the Quakers and expelled them from thej 
colony. The Commissioners of the United Colonies (§ 73) ' 
advised the members of the Confederation to banish all 
Quakers coming into any one of the four colonies under 
pain of death in case of return. The Massachusetts Court : 
passed such a law. The Quakers hastened to Boston to put 
it to the test ; four of them were hanged and others were 
severely punished. 

Many writers have tried to justify Massachusetts on the 
ground that every state has the power to close its boundaries 
to outsiders and to eject any hostile persons. The English 
government had delegated these powers to the Massachusetts 
Bay Company, which undoubtedly possessed the legal right 
to refuse admission to Quakers or even to hang them, — but 
was it well to exercise this right? The plain people of 
Massachusetts disliked these executions and they were carried 
out only by a display of force. 

None of the other New England colonies treated the 
Quakers so severely. In 1658 the Maryland Council directed 
all persons in Maryland to swear to be faithful to the lord 
proprietor or leave the colony upon pain of being treated as 
traitors. The next year the Virginia Assembly likewise pro- 
vided by law that Quakers coming into the colony should be 
banished on pain of death in case of a third return. In New 
Netherland, Stuyvesant treated them with great harshness, 
beatings and tortures, but none were put to death. 

80. The English Government and Massachusetts. — The 
Quakers complained of the action of the Massachusetts 
magistrates, and the English government at once interfered. 
From the outset the Massachusetts rulers had allowed no 
appeal from their decisions to the courts in England ; it 
seemed now that a case had arisen where the English 
authorities might compel the colony to permit an appeal. 



Fiske's New 

England, 

183-190; 

Chandler's 

Criminal 

Trials, I, 

33-63; 
Contempo- 
raries, I, 
No. 140-142. 



Attempts to 
justify Mas- 
sachusetts. 



The Quakers 
in the other 
colonies. 



Massachu- 
setts and 
England, 
1661. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 191- 
192 ; *Froth- 
ingham's 
Republic, 
49-62. 



76 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§8i 



The 
judges. 
Fiskc's 
A'ew Eng- 
land, 192 ; 
*Stiles's 
Judges of 
Charles /. 



Declaration 
of Rights, 
1661. 



English de- 
mands, 1661. 



An order was drawn up directing the Massachusetts Bay 
Company to send the Quakers to England for trial. But 
when the order reached Boston the laws had already been 
modified, the jails emptied of their inmates, and there were 
no prisoners under accusation to send to England. 

A far more serious offense in the eyes of the new rulers 
of England was the sheltering of two of the judges who had 
signed the death warrant of Charles the First, These regi- 
cides, as they were termed, were seen in Boston by an Eng- 
lish ship captain, who reported the matter to the authorities 
on his return. Orders were at once sent to the colony to 
seize them and send them to England. They escaped, 
however, and lived concealed in the New Haven colony, 
and later in the interior of Massachusetts. The colonial 
governments showed so much zeal for their arrest, and so 
much skill in managing their escape, that the English 
authorities could do nothing in the matter, whatever their 
suspicions may have been. 

81. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, 1661. — Soon 
afterwards, the Massachusetts General Court drew up a 
Declaration of Rights that might well have been issued 'one 
hundred years later at the time of the Stamp Act and the 
tea tax. It declared that the charter gave to the company 
full legislative power, provided its laws were not contrary to 
those of England. Furthermore, the company was directed 
to defend the colony by sea and by land against all persons 
who should seek to annoy it. As to the navigation acts, it 
asserted that " any imposition [which is] prejudicial to the 
country, contrary to any just law of ours, [that is] not re- 
pugnant to the laws of England, to be an infringement of 
our right." On the other hand, it acknowledged that it had 
certain duties to perform, to bear allegiance to the king, to 
protect his person and dominions, and to govern according 
to the charter. 

Two agents were sent to England to try to smooth over 
matters. They came back with a royal letter in which the 
king wrote that the Massachusetts people might make " sharp 



[664] 



The Commission of 1664 



77 



Royal 
commis- 
sioners sent 
to Boston, 
1664. 



laws against the Quakers," for their ideas "were inconsistent 
with any kind of government." On the other hand, he de- 
manded that the oath of allegiance should be taken, service 
according to the rites of the Church of England be permitted, 
and all Protestants of competent estate given a share in the 
government of the colony. The General Court passed a 
new franchise law in almost the precise words used by the 
king, but as the Puritan ministers in the several towns of 
the colony were to determine whether a man was a Protes- 
tant or not, it is not probable that many were enfranchised. 

82. The Commission of 1664. — The Rhode Island col- 
onists and those interested in the settlement of New Hamp- 
shire and Maine were bitter in their complaints against 
Massachusetts and asked the king for justice. He sent a 
commission to New England to look into these questions 
and settle as many of them as possible. As soon as the 
news of its appointment reached Boston the General Court 
ordered the fort in the harbor to be strengthened, and con- 
fided the charter to a committee for safe keeping. The 
commissioners several times visited Boston, but without 
much result. In 1665, they asked the General Court to say 
yes or no as to whether it recognized the force of the king's 
commission. The Court replied that it was not its business 
to decide that question. It had its charter and was obliged 
to govern according to it. The commissioners themselves 
then tried to exercise jurisdiction in the king's name, but 
the magistrates warned all persons on their duty to God and 
their allegiance to the king to pay no attention to them. 
Beaten at every step, the commissioners departed from the Failure of 
colony. The next year the king ordered the authorities to *^ commis 

, 11-11 sioners. 

send over some of their principal men ; but this they de- 
clined doing " on suspicion of the authenticity of the letter." 
The Dutch were in the Thames and blockading London ; at 
the moment the king was powerless. 

83. Charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island. — While 
this contest had been going on between the king and Mas- 
sachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island had secured from 



78 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§8^ 



Connecticut 
and Rhode 
Island char- 
ters, 1662-63. 



The EngHsh 
conquest of 
New Nether- 
land, 1664. 
Winsor's 
America, 
111,386-390; 
Channing's 
United 
States, \\,ch. 
ii ; Contempo- 
raries, 1 , 155. 



Grants of 
New York 
and New 
Jersey. 
Hinsdale's 
Old Nortk- 
'juest, 92-96. 



him most liberal charters, one granted in 1662 to Connect- 
icut, the other in 1663 to Rhode Island. These were so 
liberal in their terms that they continued to form the funda- 
mental law of those colonies and states until 18 18 and 1842. 
By these charters the voters in each colony were given 
nearly complete self-government. They were to elect their 
own officers and to make their own laws. These were to be 
conformable to the laws of England. They were not to be 
sent over for the king's approval, but they might be annulled 
at any time by the English authorities, if they were contrary 
to English laws and usages. The Rhode Island charter also 
contained a provision for religious equality which was not 
unlike that of the second Carolina charter that was granted 
in 1665 (§ 91 ). 

84. The Conquest of New Fetherland, 1664. — The con- 
tinued possession of New Netherland by the Dutch was dis- 
tasteful to England, and its acquisition would greatly 
strengthen the English colonies on the continent. Regard- 
ing the Dutch as intruders Charles II, in 1664, granted the 
lands included in New Netherland to his brother, James 
Duke of York and Albany (later James II), and sent over 
an expedition to occupy the country. The conquest was 
easily effected (1664), and the terms given to the van- 
quished were most liberal. Nine years later (1673) the 
Dutch reconquered New Netherland, but in the next year 
restored it to England. In 1664, James, with true Stuart 
liberality, gave the portion lying between New York Harbor 
and the Delaware to two favorites. Lord Berkeley and Sir 
George Carteret. The latter had gallantly defended the 
island of Jersey against the Puritan forces and the province 
was named in his honor, New Jersey. Throughout New 
Netherland old Dutch names were changed to English ones, 
the province and the principal city both being called New 
York and Fort Orange, Albany. New York grew rapidly ; 
but throughout the whole colonial period, settlement was 
confined to Long Island and to the banks of the Hudson 
and to the lower Mohawk. For years the province was 



1664] 



Settlement of New Jersey 



79 



governed as a conquered country, there being no represent- 
ative legislative assembly and the laws being made by the 
governor with the approval of James and Charles. 

85. Settlement of New Jersey. — Berkeley and Carteret 
at once began gathering settlers for their colony. They 
promised religious freedom and a liberal government like 
that of Maryland. Some immigrants came across the Atlan- 
tic, others came from New England and there were already 
a few Dutch settlers living on the western side of New York 
harbor. The conditions under which these different groups 
held their lands varied greatly and caused much dissatisfac- 
tion. The governors of New York also claimed the govern- 
ment of New Jersey for themselves on the ground that James 
had given only the land, and not the government, to Berke- 
ley and Carteret. There was so much confusion that Berke- 
ley was glad to sell his share to English and Scotch 
Quakers. They secured the division of New Jersey into 
two parts taking West Jersey for themselves. But before 
long they also acquired all of Carteret's lands that had not 
been granted to private persons. The later history of New 
Jersey is the story of the gradual union of all these in- 
terests and the surrender of the government to the crown. 
During the first part of the eighteenth century, New Jersey 
had the same governor as New York with a legislature of its 
own; but in 1738, a separate governor was appointed and 
the province became independent. Owing to the frugality 
and industry of its inhabitants, to its freedom from fear of 
war, protected as it was by New York and Pennsylvania, and 
to the fertility of its soil, New Jersey enjoyed great pros- 
perity, perhaps more than any other colony. 

86. William Penn. — William Penn, who first became 
interested in American colonization as one of the New Jer- 
sey trustees, was the foremost man among the Quakers and 
one of the most remarkable men of his time. Son of a dis- 
tinguished admiral of the seventeenth century, he risked all 
chances of worldly advancement and pecuniary independ- 
ence for conscience' sake and became a Quaker. 



Constitu- 
tional His- 
tory of New 
Jersey. 
Winsor's 
America, 
III, 422-448 
Cotiiempo- 
raries, I, 
No. 164. 



The 

Quakers in 
New Jersey. 
Janney's 
Penn, ch. 
viii. 



William 
Penn. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica, 111,473- 
476; Jan- 
ney's Penn. 



8o 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§87 



Penn 

enlarges his 
colonial in- 
terests. 
Janney's 
Pi-fl/l, c:ll. 



Extent of 
Penn's grant. 
Janney's 
Penn, ch. 
xviii ; Hins- 
dale's 0/d 
Northwest, 
98-104; 
Fisher's 
Afaking of 
Pennsylva- 
nia, ch. xi. 



Desirous to extend his colonial interests, and wishing to 
have a colony in which he could try his own ideas of gov- 
ernment, William Penn obtained from Charles II and 
James, Duke of York (1680-82), the Swedish-Dutch set- 
tlements on Delaware Bay and a vast region stretching 
westward from the Delaware through five degrees of longi- 
tude to which the name Pennsylvania was given. Of the 

latter territory William Penn 
was made proprietary on nearly 
the same terms on which the 
Baltimores held Maryland; 
^. but the laws of Pennsylvania 

_ * were to be submitted to the 

king within five years and he 
might then annul them. Re- 
ligious toleration was guaran- 
teed, but provision was made 
for services according to the 
rites of the Established Church. 
Penn's relations with the col- 
onists of what is now the state 
of Delaware were not laid 
down in any charter, and this 
omission gave rise to trouble in succeeding years. Dela- 
ware in 1 703 became independent of Pennsylvania so far as 
the legislature was concerned ; but both provinces had the 
same governor during the colonial period. 

87. Mason and Dixon's Line. — The boundary disputes 
of Pennsylvania have been almost endless. The dispute 
with Maryland began immediately. The plan evidently was 
that Penn should possess a continuous strip of land on the 
southern and western shore of Delaware Bay and River, 
from Cape Henlopen to the northern boundary of Pennsyl- 
vania. This territory, so far as it lay south of the fortieth 
parallel, had been included in Maryland by the charter of 
1632 ; but it was held that Baltimore had forfeited his rights 
in this region by permitting the Swedes and the Dutch to 




William Penn 



i6So; 



Mason and Dixon s Line 



8i 



make settlements on Delaware Bay. When observations 
were taken on the spot, it was discovered that there was a 
gap of some sixteen miles between the northern limit of the 
Swedish-Dutch colonies, which Penn had obtained by re- 
lease from the Duke of York, and Pennsylvania, which he 
had received from the king. The southern boundary of 
Pennsylvania was the fortieth parallel, which had been the 
southern boundary of New England under the charter of 
1620 and the northern boundary of Maryland under the 
charter of 1632. Now a most awkward question arose: 
Penn was determined to retain the control of the navigation 
of the Delaware system and advanced arguments to show 
that Maryland had practically no right to any land at all. 
For years the disputation went 
on ; at last, when both Penn and 
Baltimore were in their graves, 
an arrangement was made be- 
tween their heirs which gave to 
Pennsylvania, to Delaware, and 
to Maryland their present bound- 
aries (1732). Two English sur- 
veyors, Mason and Dixon, 
determined the eastern portions 
of these limits and ran the line 
westward for some distance 
(1764-1767). Subsequently the 
line was continued to the western boundary of Maryland, and 
was adopted by Pennsylvania and Virginia as limiting their 
respective territories. Such was the origin of Mason and 
Dixon's line, one of the most famous lines in history. 

88. The Northern Boundary of Pennsylvania. — On the 
north, Pennsylvania came into contact with Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, and New York. In the disputes which arose 
over this portion of Pennsylvania, the arguments which 
Penn had advanced to restrict Baltimore's grant were used 
with great force by Pennsylvania's opponents, and in con- 
sequence that state includes only two degrees of latitude, 




Charter of Pennsylvania 



Mason and 
Dixon's 
Line. Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 77. 



Northern 
limits. 
Fisher's 
Making of 
Pennsylva- 
nia, ch. X. 



82 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§89 



Hinsdale's 
0/d Nortli- 
west, iio- 
118. 



Penn's 
Indian pol- 
icy. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 205 ; 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
1 1 , 227 ; 
Contempo- 
raries, I, 
No. 163. 



instead of three, as the words of the charter seem to indi- 
cate. The contention with Connecticut was especially 
violent. The Connecticut people had good ground for 
complaint, as their charter, granted in 1662, was clearly 
infringed upon by Penn's gcant of some twenty years later. 
The dispute, continued throughout the colonial and the 
Revolutionary period, brought great misery to the dwellers in 
the Wyoming valley and on the upper Susquehanna, and was 
only concluded at the time of tl)e Connecticut cession of 
western lands to the United States (§ 172), by an arrange- 
ment which secured to her a valuable tract of land immedi- 
ately west of Pennsylvania — known as the VVestetn Reserve, 
which is now included in the state of Ohio. 

89. Penn and the Indians. — William Penn, like Roger 
Williams and other colonists, was anxious that the natives 
within the limits of his colony should be treated with 
justice. Penn's ideas were set forth in a broad way in a 
treaty with the Indians which was not unlike the agreements 
between the settlers of New York and the Iroquois, and be- 
tween the Pilgrims and Massasoit. In all three cases, justice 
and fair dealing were promised on both sides, and, as a 
matter of fact, all three agreements were faithfully carried 
out. 

Penn made several other treaties with the Indians, which 
related more especially to the purchase of land. The best 
known of these, perhaps, was the so-called " Walking Pur- 
chase," by which Penn acquired a tract of land west of the 
Delaware, extending inland as far as a man could walk in 
three days. The Quaker proprietary, with a iew friends 
and a body of Indians, walked out the ftrst day and a half 
in a leisurely fashion ; they accomplished about thirty miles, 
which was as much land as was needed at the moment. 
Years later, after Penn's death, the other day and a half was 
walked out, this time in an entirely different spirit. The 
Pennsylvania authorities then employed the three fastest 
walkers that could be found, one of whom covered eighty- 
six miles in thirty-six hours. 



1682] Government of Pennsylvania 83 

90. Government of Pennsylvania. — ■ Colonists came to Government, 
the new province in great numbers, attracted by Penn's Wmsors 

111 • r 1- • iM TT America, 

reputation and by the promise of rehgious liberty. He m^ 483-489. 
conferred upon them almost complete power of self-govern- 
ment and even abandoned the right to veto any legislation 
which they might adopt. Grave disputes arose : the colo- 
nists did not fulfill their obligations to the satisfaction of the 
proprietary, and he revoked the grant of self-government. 
In 1 701 Penn granted the Charter of Privileges, which 
remained the fundamental law of Pennsylvania until the 
American Revolution. 

This document was in reality a written constitution. It Charter of 
provided (i) that no person believing in one God should Privileges, 
be molested on account of religion ; but (2) only those charters and 
" who also profess to believe Jesus Christ the Saviour of Constitutions, 
the world" could take part in the government, and then ^> ^5-3 • 
only on promising allegiance to the king and fidelity to 
the proprietary ; (3) no person should be disturbed in his 
property except by legal process ; (4) an assembly, consist- 
ing of a single house, should annually be elected by the 
freemen, — which was interpreted to mean taxpayers ; this 
assembly should exercise functions " according to the rights 
of free-born subjects of England, and as is usual in any of 
the king's plantations in America" ; (5) the proprietary 
should be represented by a governor and council, who 
could negative any act of the assembly. The instrument 
also contained a provision for its amendment — except the 
clause as to religious freedom — provided the governor and 
six sevenths of the assembly should concur. 

This charter put an end to disputes with the proprietary Controver- 
as to forms of government ; but during the greater part of sies with 
the first seventy years of the eighteenth century there was 
a fierce controversy over the question of the taxation of the 
proprietary's lands : the people asserted that these should 
be taxed like the lands of any private person, while the 
Penns claimed freedom from taxes on the ground that they 
were representatives of the king. Benjamin Franklin was 



84 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§ 



91 



Carolina 
charters, 
1663, 1665. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
290. 



Limits. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 16, 



Early settle- 
ments. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
287-290. 



sent to England to lay the matter before the home govern- 
ment ; in the end, the Privy Council decided in favor of the 
Pennsylvanians (1759), on certain conditions, which were by 
no means to the colonists' liking. 

91. The Carolina Charters, 1663, 1665. — The outburst of 
colonizing zeal that followed the Restoration of Charles II 
was not confined to the north ; it led also to the founding 
of a colony south of Virginia which was named CaroUna in 
honor of the king. Among the grantees named in the first 
charter (1663) were Clarendon, Albemarle, Lord Ashley, 
who later became the Earl of Shaftesbury, Sir William 
Berkeley, governor of Virginia, and his brother Lord Berke- 
ley and Sir George Carteret. The new province lay between 
the thirty-first and the thirty-sixth parallels of latitude and 
extended from the Atlantic to the Pa:;ific, The northern 
part of Carolina was within the limits of Virginia and two 
years later (1665) the northern boundary was pushed one 
half a degree farther north (36° 30') to include more of 
Virginia soil. At the same time the southern boundary was 
placed two degrees farther south at the twenty-ninth parallel, 
which crossed Florida to the southward qf St. Augustine 
(map, § 59). The Carolina proprietaries enjoyed about the 
same powers of government that Lord Baltimore did in 
Maryland (§ 49). In the second charter, freedom of con- 
science and of worship was guaranteed to all Christians, pro- 
vided they did not disturb others in the enjoyment of 
similar rights. 

92. Settlement of the Carolinas. — There were soma set- 
tlers already living on the shores of Albemarle Sound and 
there may have been a few on the banks of the Cape Fear 
River. More colonists soon caine from Barbadoes and a^ 
prosperous settlement grew up in the northern part of the 
province. It was not until 1670, that the first immigrants 
came to the southern part of Carolina and settled on the 
shores of Charleston harbor. They built their first houses 
on the southern side of the Ashley River. In 1680 they^ 
moved across to Oyster Point and founded the city of 



1676] Bacon's Rebellion 85 

Charleston. This stands between the Ashley and Cooper Charleston, 
rivers, which perpetuate the family names of Lord Shaftes- ^^^°- ^'"' 

, /^ • 1 r ■ ■ • 1 1 • . sor s Amer- 

bury. Owing to the ease 01 communication with the interior i^^,, v, 307- 
this spot was destined to be the seaport of the southeast, as 309- 
Manhattan Island was certain to become the commercial 
center of the north. The new settlement throve and by the 
end of the century, notwithstanding troubles with the Indians 
and with the Spaniards, it was well established. 

93. Grievances of the Virginians, 1 660-1676. — The Res- Charles 1 1 
toration brought more trouble to loyal Virginia than it f"'^ . . 

'^ . . Virginia. 

did to Puritanical New England. While still in exile, Charles 
II had given portions of Virginia to those who enjoyed his 
favor. In 1669, he granted the whole colony to two men, 
Arlington and Culpeper, who were nearly as disreputable as 
himself. This made them masters of the province, and the 
Virginians were obliged to buy them off as well as they could. 
The new rulers of England also interfered with the tobacco 
trade and caused a serious diminution in the price of that 
staple. The Virginians petitioned to the king for relief, but 
received none. After 1660, the royalist faction in Virginia"^ 
gained the ascendancy. They made sharp laws against the Contempora- 
Puritans and paid no attention to education and very little to *^"' ^' ^°- 
religion. Corruption and extortion prevailed. The assembly 
that was elected in 1660 held on for fourteen years and then 
enacted a law greatly restricting the right to vote. As the 
third quarter of the century neared its ending, the Indians 
became restless all along the coast. In Virginia, Governor 
Berkeley did nothing to protect the colonists. It was be- 
lieved that he cared more for the prosperity of the natives 
than he did for the safety of the settlers, as he received the 
net proceeds of the duties on the furs that were exported 
from the colony. 

94. Bacon's Rebellion, 1676. — Nathaniel Bacon, an able Bacon's Re- 
and popular man, now stepped forward as the leader in the beihon, 1676. 
defense of the settlers against the savages. Berkeley at once 
declared him and his followers to be rebels ; this was the signal 

for a general uprising. The course of events was most com- 



19- 
\ 



86 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§95 



Winsor's 
America, III, 

151-153 ; 

Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
71- 



Virginia to 
1700. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
263-265 ; 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 



King 
Philip's 
War. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, '2fyj- 
241 ; Old 
South Leaf- 
lets, VIII, 
No. 4. 



plicated. As long as Bacon with his forces remained in the 
settled part of the province, he had the upper hand ; but as 
soon as he marched against the Indians, Berkeley regained 
power. Then Bacon would come back and expel the gov- 
ernor and again take up the chastisement of the Indians. 
After a few months he died and the excitement came to a 
sudden end. The most regrettable thing about Bacon's re- 
belHon was that it prevented the granting to the Virginians 
of a charter like those which the king had given to Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island. 

95. Virginia, 1677-1700. — Virginia next fell into the 
hands of a most greedy set of governors, — Lord Culpeper, 
Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Edmund Andros, and Sir 
Francis Nicholson. The only important event of their time 
was the founding of William and Mary College, named after 
its royal patrons, the king and queen of England (1692). 
Its founder was the Rev. James Blair, who desired to estab- 
lish an institution in which young Virginians might be edu- 
cated for the ministry of the Established Church. Little 
was realized in this respect, but the college provided a fair 
training for those young Virginians who could not go to a 
Northern college or to England for an education. 

96. Overthrow of the Massachusetts Charter. — The years 
1675-76, which were so eventful in the history of Virginia, 
were even more important in the annals of New England, 
for then occurred a terrible struggle with the natives, which 
is known as King Philip's War, from the name of the Indian 
chief who organized the movement. The contest resulted 
in the crushing overthrow of the Indians; it also greatly 
diminished the power of the New England colonies to resist 
the renewed attacks of their enemies in England. The chief 
causes of complaint on the part of the English authorities 
were the nonobservance of the Navigation Acts, the inde- 
pendent attitude of the colonists in King Philip's War, and 
the purchase of Maine by Massachusetts. 

In 1676 Edward Randolph arrived at Boston. He came 
as the bearer of a letter from the king, in which the monarch 



[6.S4] End of the Massachusetts Charter 



87 



vigorously complained of the action of Massachusetts as to 
the navigation laws. His further duty was to spy out irreg- 
ularities in the conduct of the government, on which a suit 
could be founded for the revocation of the Massachusetts 
charter. He had no difficulty in discovering many unlawful 
proceedings, and drew up a report stating the results of his 
observations. The attack on Massachusetts was part of a 
general scheme for the consolidation of all the colonial 
governments, save Pennsylvania and Carolina, under the 
direct control of the crown. Had the plan been carried 
out, the whole power 
of the English-Ameri- 
can colonies would 
have been wielded by 
one hand. This 
would have greatly 
increased the power 
of England to resist 
French aggressions, 
and would also have 
led to a correspond- 
ing diminution in the 
ability of the colonists 
to withstand the at- 
tacks of king and Par- 
liament. After a long 

legal contest, the Massachusetts charter was annulled (16S4) 
and the government of Massachusetts was confided to Joseph 
Dudley, son of one of the founders of the colony. He was 
soon replaced by Sir Edmund Andros, once governor of New 
York. 

97. The " Stuart Tyranny in New England." — Sir Ed- 
mund Andros was directed to exercise powers in Massachu- 
, setts similar to those which the governor of New York 
possessed. Either by himself or with his council, which was 
appointed by the king, Andros was to make laws, levy taxes, 
perform executive functions and, through judges appointed 



Renewed 
attack on 
Massachu- 
setts, 1676- 
84. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
latid, 253- 
266. 




Sir Edmund Andros 



Massachu- 
setts charter 
annulled, 
1684. Con- 
temporaries, 
I, No. 135. 

Andros in 
New Eng- 
land. Fiske's 
New Eng- 
land, 267- 
271 ; Wen- 
dell's Cotton 
Mather. 



A Century of Colonial History 



Old Souf/i 
Leaflets, 2d 
series. 



The 

dominion of 
New Eng- 
land, 1688. 
Contempora- 
ries, I, No. 
122. 



Overthrow 
of Andros. 
Fiske's New 
England, 
TTj'z; Con- 
temporaries, 
I. No. 136. 



by himself, try and convict persons charged with disobeying 
his decrees. He abused his power to seize private property 
and his methods were most ungracious; but many of his 
acts which seemed harsh to the Puritan colonists do not 
appear so severe to us. For instance, he compelled wit- 
nesses in court to kiss the Bible when they swore to give 
true testimony, and he insisted that all those whose land 
titles were defective should have them confirmed by him- 
self as representative of the king. 

Steps were also taken to secure the revocation of the Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island charters, but judgment was never 
recorded against either of them. Nevertheless, Andros took 
control of both. In 1688, a new commission was given to 
him, greatly extending the limits of his authority. He was 
appointed governor of the Dominion of New England which 
included all the English possessions on the continent, south 
of the St. Lawrence and north of Pennsylvania. Boston 
remained the principal seat of government ; but a deputy 
governor, Francis Nicholson, resided at New York. The 
revocation of the Maryland charter was also in contempla- 
tion and the plans of the Stuart monarchs seemed about to 
be accomplished, when the "Glorious Revolution of 1688" 
hurled James II from the throne. It may be said, therefore, 
that the Revolution had as important consequences for 
America as it had for England 

98. The " Glorious Revolution " in America. — The news 
of the landing of William of Orange, in November, 1688, 
reached Boston in March, 16S9, and the flight of James II 
was probably known to the colonial leaders not long after. 
At all events, on the morning of April 18, the town was full 
of armed men ; Andros was arrested and the commander of 
an English frigate, which happened to be in the harbor, was 
compelled to strike her topmasts and send her sails on shore. 
A provisional government was then formed under the old 
charter, and William and Mary were proclaimed king and 
queen. Connecticut and Rhode Island re-established their 
old charter governments. 



erts's New 
York, I, ch. 
xiii. 



policy. 



1689] Policy of the New Government 89 

In New York there was serious trouble, due to the sharp " Leisier's 
poHtical and religions divisions which prevailed in that Rebellion." 
colony. The power passed to Jacob Leisler, a German ^^^^ j -^^^ 
merchant and captain of the trained band of New York. 157; Rob- 
He was a man of force, but he lacked discretion, and he 
also was opposed by the extreme English faction. 

In Maryland, the Protestants, especially those of the 
Established Church, were opposed to the proprietary's rule. 
Led by John Coode, they seized the government and sent 
an address to William and Mary. On the other hand, Balti- 
more was peculiarly unfortunate : he dispatched a messen- 
ger to Maryland directing his governor there to proclaim the 
new monarchs, but the bearer of this order died while on 
the way, and the successors of James were not proclaimed. 

99. Policy of the New Government. — When William and William's 
his advisers were able to examine into the condition of affairs colonial 
in England's possessions beyond the sea, they found them- 
selves greatly perplexed. The case of Maryland was clear 
enough : they could not allow the province to remain in the 
hands of a nobleman who did not recognize their authority. 
A royal governor was sent to Maryland, but the charter was 
not revoked. In the time of Queen Anne, a Protestant 
Lord Baltimore regained the jurisdiction. As to Penn- 
sylvania, the government of that province was confided to 
the governor of New York, but afterwards it was restored to 
Penn. The Baltimores and the Penns continued to exercise 
the powers of proprietaries until the American Revolution. 
In New York affairs did not progress so smoothly. Leisier's 
enemies gained the ear of the new governor and brought 
about the conviction of Leisler as a traitor. He was ex- 
ecuted ; but, afterwards, when the English government 
understood the facts, it did what it could to atone for the 
death of one of the best friends of the "Glorious Revolution." 

Connecticut and Rhode Island re-established their old 
charter governments and were not further molested. Mas- 
sachusetts had shown too much strength to be permitted again 
to become practically independent. A new charter, usually 



#• 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§ 99 



The Massa- 
chusetts 
Province 
Charter, 
1691. Fiske's 
jVew Eng- 
land, 273- 
278; 

Winsor's 
America, V, 
87-92. 



called the Province Charter, was drawn up and issued in 
169 1. This established a form of government midway be- 
tween that of an independent colony like Connecticut, and 
that of a royal province like Virginia. The governor, secretary, 




S^i iXlt-Rg s 9^ FrcoTLilie Mafiachofe'S J -*> 

equal to mc?Tiey & J|i&llLe, acccrairigly~3 
actepteaLy taeTIrelttcer and^jeceiv^arJUi? 
fiiL or it/rrate tokwn InallEiLllck xiay tnaritJ 
ana for a^yS to ct at a/ny time. i/n. tlieJi^.c^o 
Irealtity IBoJton i/u New-Englartid-'.-^ 
KLruai^'-ike-llilrd jQq By Order- oF 





^a>^^^//^C<^i^ 



Massachusetts currency, 1690 

and treasurer of the new province were to be appointed by 
the king. The council, however, was to be elected by a body 
representing the people, subject to the confirmation of the 
governor. The representatives were also given the initiative 



1732] 



Georgia 



^ 



in financial matters, — which gave the skilled politicians of 
Massachusetts the chance to limit the power of the governor. 

Massachusetts, as a province, included New Plymouth, 
Maine, and the English possessions to the eastward ; but 
New Hampshire was given a government of its own. A 
form of words was used in the new charter to describe the 
boundary between these provinces which the English Privy 
Council, of a later day, interpreted to mean that Massachu- 
setts extended to a point three miles northward of the most 
southern point of the Merrimac only, instead of to a point 
three miles northward of the most northern point of that 
stream, as the old charter had plainly intended. The 
limits of Massachusetts still extended westward to the 
South Sea, as they had in the charter of 1629. 

100. Georgia. — The period from the accession of Wil- 
liam and Mary to the first of those events (1760) which 
led directly to the separation of the colonies from the 
British Empire, was a time of great material prosperity 
within the English colonies, and of conflicts with the French 
on the north and west and with the Spaniards on the south. 
Only one new province was founded during this period, and 
the colonies grew rather by developing the resources within 
their limits than by planting new settlements. 

The new province, Georgia (1732), had its rise in the 
desire of General Oglethorpe and other benevolent persons 
in England to provide a place in America where those who 
had been unsuccessful at home might obtain a new start in 
life. But these charitable people laid down conditions which 
greatly hampered those whom they wished to benefit : they 
granted land in too small quantities, and forbade negro 
slavery. In consequence, the Georgia settlers found it im- 
possible to compete with the Carolinians on the other side 
of the Savannah River. Unable to own slaves, they hired 
them of the Carolina slave owners, and in this way slavery 
was introduced into Georgia. The Spaniards viewed the 
newcomers with jealousy, and Oglethorpe passed most of 
his time while in America in conflicts with them. The 



Limits of 
Massachu- 
setts. 



Character 
of period, 
1690-1760. 



Oglethorpe 
and founding 
of Georgia, 
1732. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
361-367, 
387-389- 



92 



A Century of Colonial History [§ loi 



Carolina 

Rebellion, 

1719. 



Winsor's 
America, V, 
322-329. 



The 

Caiolinas 
to 1760. 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
ch. V. 



Characters 
of royal 
governors. 



Georgia charter contained an unusual clause, limiting the 
existence of the company to twenty-one years. Before that 
time had expired, the trustees were so disheartened that 
they surrendered their charter to the crown, and henceforth 
Georgia was governed as a royal province. 

loi . The Carolinas. — Meantime a great change had come 
over the Carolinas. The proprietaries' government had be- 
come intensely unpopular in the colony. One of the most 
curious results of their pohcy was to give an undue amount 
of influence to the people of Charleston and its immediate 
neighborhood. The elections to the assembly were held in 
the open air at Charleston, and the votes were given vtm 
twee. The people were anxious to have the colony divided 
into districts, but this system gave the governors an unusal 
chance to control elections, and nothing was done. In 17 19 
the colonists deposed the proprietaries' representative, and 
a royal governor was sent over. After vain attempts to 
regain their authority, the proprietaries, save one, sold their 
rights of government and their title to the undivided lands 
in the province to the crown (1729-31). 

From the beginning, there had been two centers of settle- 
ment and government in Carolina ; this division was now 
recognized, but the line between the two provinces was not 
run for many years. Under the royal governors, the Caro- 
linas became very prosperous, especially after the founding 
of Georgia relieved them of danger from Spanish attacks. 
In 1738 a serious slave insurrection startled the colony; 
it was put down, and led to the enactment of a most severe 
system of slave laws. There were also troubles with the 
Indians, and with a succession of extortionate royal gov- 
ejiiors ; but, on the whole, the Carolinas grew rapidly in 
strength and resources. 

102. Constitutional Progress, 1689-1760. — The first half 
of the eighteenth century witnessed a gradual but steady 
growth in the power of the representative legislative bodies. 
In this they were greatly assisted by the poor character of 
the royal governors, who were for the most part men of 



1748] 



French and Indian Wars 



93 



Lord 



broken fortune and of little force. The disputes generally 
turned on questions of money : the governors desired to 
have their salaries fixed by law ; the assemblies preferred to 
regard them in the light of payments for services rendered 
to the colonists. The worst royal representative who ever 
came to America was probably Lord Cornbury, governor of Combury. 
New York and New Jersey. He was the grandson of the 
first Earl of Clarendon and cousin to Queen Anne. His 
first exploit was to steal twelve thousand dollars which the 
New York assembly had voted for fortifications. The 
representatives thereupon declined to vote any more money 
unless it should be expended by officials in whom they 
had confidence. The Virginians also had a succession of ex- 
tortionate rulers, from one of whom they obtained the right 
to appoint the Speaker of their assembly, and from another 
they wrested the appointment of provincial treasurer. 
These are only instances of what was going on in all 
the royal provinces ; everywhere the royal authority con- 
stantly weakened, and the power of the colonists constantly 
increased. 

103. French and Indian Wars, 1690-1748. — The acces- Parkman's 
sion of William of Orange to the English throne entangled Prontenac 
England in the great struggle between the French monarchy century 
under Louis XIV and the other states of Europe ; the con- 
test spread to America, and the colonists were involved in 
continuous strife with the French and their Indian allies, 
which continued with hardly a pause for upwards of half a 
century. The earlier part of this period of strife came to an Peace of 
end in 17 13 with the Peace of Utrecht. By it France Utrecht, 
finally handed over to Great Britain all of Acadia and the 
northern territories which had been explored by Henry 
Hudson in 16 10. The boundaries of Acadia or Nova 
Scotia, as the English called it, were very vague. The 
French asserted that it included only the peninsula that is 
now known as Nova Scotia, but the British argued that it 
extended westward to the English settlements in Maine. 
The treaty also provided that the French Acadians should 



1713- 



94 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 104 



Peace of Aix- 

la-Chapelle, 

1748. 



enjoy rights that were not clearly defined and that the 
fisheries should be open to the subjects of the two monarchs. 
In 1745 Great Britain and France were again at war. 
The New England colonists under William Pepperrell, 
with slight support from a British naval force, captured 
the important military post of Louisburg on the island of 




A Block House. Interior 



A block House, Exterior 



Cape Breton ; but this was restored to the French at the 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. 

104. Founding of Louisiana. — During the seventeenth 
century, the French had gradually extended their explora- 
tions westward along the Great Lakes. In 1673 two 
Frenchmen, Joliet and Marquette, penetrated to the upper 
waters of the Mississippi, and in 1680 Hennepin discovered 
the Falls of St. Anthony. The next year Robert Cavelier 
de la Salle voyaged down the Mississippi to its mouth and 
No. 8. Map returned again to the French settlements in Canada. He 

W 1 1 * 

^oid™'of-tk-^ then led a French colony to occupy the region about its 
west. mouth, but the attempt ended in disaster. 



The French 
on the 
Mississippi, 
1673-81. 
Winsor's 
America, IV, 
ch.v; Old 
Soiitk Leaf- 
lets, VII, 
No. 2; XI, 



17 



54] 



Expulsion of the French 



95 



In 1699 another French expedition appeared off the Louisiana, 
delta of the Mississippi. Its commander was Iberville, and ^^99- 

. Winsor's 

with him was associated Bienville, who remained in the America V 
colony as governor. The settlers at first landed on one of ch. i. 
the islands to the east of the Mississippi, but later they 
moved to the shores of Mobile Bay. Later still, in 1718, 
New Orleans was founded. To counteract this renewed 
colonizing activity of the French in the south, the Spaniards 
founded the town of 
Pensacola. Louisi- 
ana, as the French 
termed this southern 
colony, grew very 
slowly ; the people 
were frequently on 
the edge of starva- 
tion, and they were 
attacked by the In- 
dians as the French 
never were in Canada. 
In time, however, 
settlements were 
made higher up the 
river, and other colo- 
nies were planted on 
the upper waters of 

the Mississippi sys- Pepperrell 

tem. The next step was to unite Canada and Louisiana by 
a chain of posts extending down the Ohio River. This at- 
tempt brought on war with the English, who had now (1754) 
begun to direct their attention to the trade of the fertile 
country immediately west of the Alleghanies. 

105. Expulsion of the French, 1754-1763. — The building French and 
of Fort Duquesne by the French at the confluence of the if'^'^n War, 
Alleghany and Monongahela rivers brought matters to a 
crisis (1754). The English in Virginia protested, and, not 
beiqg heeded, sent a small army under Colonel Washington 




96 



A Century of Colonial History 



[§ 105 



Parkman's 
Montcalm 
mid Wolfe : 
Winsor's 
America, V, 
ch. viii. 



to enforce their protest. He was defeated and forced to 
surrender. This conflict in America rapidly enlarged and 
soon became merged in a tremendous war which broke 
out in Europe in 1756 and is known in history as the 
Seven Years' War. England was now the ally of Frederick 
the Great of Prussia ; against them was arrayed the mighty 
power of France, Spain, and Austria. This conflict made 
many military reputations, — Frederick in Europe, Clive 

in India, Wolfe and 
Amherst in America ; 
it also brought to 
power the greatest 
war minister England 
has ever produced, — 
William Pitt. For 
America it resulted in 
the retirement of the 
French from the con- 
tinent of North Amer- 
ica. This arrange- 
ment was embodied 
in a great interna- 
tional agreement 
known as the Peace 
of Paris of 1763. By this treaty France ceded to Great 
Britain all her possessions in North America east of the 
Mississippi and of the island on which New Orleans stands, 
with the exception of two small islands in the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. Spain, on her part, ceded to Great Britain her 
colony of Florida in exchange for Havana, which the English 
had occupied during the war. To recompense Spain for this 
loss, France ceded to her all of the French possessions in 
America west of the Mississippi and also the island on which 
New Orleans stands. The treaties further provided that 
vessels of Spain and Great Britain should enjoy the free 
navigation of the Mississippi. Moreover, it was agreed that 
the French colonists in Canada should be allowed the exer- 




Bienville 



I7631 



TJie Proclamation of 176;^ 



97 



cise of the Roman Catholic religion " so far as the laws of 
Great Britain permit." The British monarch, on his part, 
gave up his claim to lands west of the Mississippi. The im- 
portance of this settlement in the history of the English- 
American colonists can hardly be overstated. Relieved of 
the pressure from without, which they had manfully with- 
stood for so many years, they were free to develop their 
material resources and to protest without fear of foreign 
attack against measures 
of the British govern- 
ment which threatened 
their prosperity or their 
free institutions. At 
once the English author- 
ities made arrangements 
for the government of 
its new dominions, and 
in so doing trenched 
heavily on the rights of 
at least three of the 
colonies. 

106. The Proclama- 
tion of 1763. — The 
most important and 
pressing need was to 
make provision for the 

government of those portions of the new dominions that were 
already occupied by Europeans. The king therefore issued 
a proclamation (1763) estabhshing three new English prov- 
inces : Quebec, and East and West Florida. The southern 
boundary of Quebec was stated to be the forty-fifth parallel 
from the St. Lawrence River to the highlands which sepa- 
rate " the rivers that empty themselves into the said St. 
Lawrence from those which fall into the sea " and along 
those " highlands " to the Bay of Chaleurs. This line should 
be carefully noted, as it was not merely the southern bound- 
ary of Quebec from 1763 to 1774: it was the northern 




Royal Proc- 
lamation 
of 1763. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 5, p. 10; 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, ch. viii; 



Quebec, 
1763. 



98 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 107 



The 

Floridas, 

1763-83. 



limit of the English colonies when they became independent 
states (§ 164). 

The northern boundary of the Floridas is also interesting, 
as it was adopted in the treaty of 1783 to describe the 
southern boundary of the United States (§164). Leaving 
the Mississippi in latitude thirty-one, the line followed that 




1 Georgia by Charter and 
1 Proclamation of 1763. 



West Florida, by 
Proclamation of 1763. 



Added to West Florida, 
1764. 
Line A-B marks western limit of 

Atlantic Colonies by 
Proclamation^ 



The Proclamation of 1763 

parallel to the Chattahoochee River, thence down that stream 
to its junction with the Flint ; from this point it ran in a 
straight line to the source of the St. Mary's and down that 
stream to the Atlantic Ocean. The Floridas were sepa- 
rated into two provinces by the Chattahoochee, or Appa- 
lachicola, as it was called after its confluence with the Flint. 
The boundary of West Florida was pushed farther north in 
the commissions issued to the governors of that province, 



1754] The Albany Congress 99 

to include within its limits several settlements on the Mis- 
sissippi ; this line was the parallel (32° 30') of the conflu- 
ence of the Yazoo and Mississippi from the latter river to 
the Chattahoochee. The territory between East Florida Georgia 
and Georgia, or between the St. Mary's and the Altamaha, enlarged, 
which up to this time had been regarded as a portion of 
South Carolina, was now added to Georgia. Between the 
Floridas and Quebec, as defined in the proclamation, there 
stretched a vast region inhabited by Indians, with a few 
French settlements north of the Ohio ; this was for the 
present reserved to the Indians by a provision of the proc- Atlantic 
lamation which forbade the governors of the colonies on colonies con- 

, , - , - . fined to sea- 

the seaboard to grant lands " west of the sources of rivers board, 
which flow into the Atlantic from the west and northwest." 
This territory had already been granted by the king to 
companies or individuals : the grantees of Virginia, Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachu- 
setts. The rights under the first three of the above grants 
had returned to the crown. The king could do what he 
pleased with as much of this region as had been included 
in those grants, but the claims of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, 
and Massachusetts remained as good as they had ever 
been. 

107. The Albany Congress, 1754. — The long series of intercolo- 
wars which came to an end in 1 763 had tended to bring "'^^ ^°"' 
the several English colonies together. Frequently, it had j„. Fiske's 
been necessary to take combined action against the French Revolution, 
and their Indian allies, and conferences had been held from jj'^?: 

*Frothing- 

tune to time from 1684 onwards. The most famous of ham's Re- 
these meetings was the one held at Albany in 1754, and public, ch. 
known as the Albany Congress ; but the word " congress," 
as now used in America, is inapplicable : it was rather a 
conference or convention, in our political language. The 
meeting was held by direction of the British Board of 
Trade and Plantations ; its object was the purchase and 
settlement of lands then in the possession of the natives, and 
it was also designed to provide some scheme for united 



lOO 



A Century of Colonial History 



107 



The " Al- 
bany Plan of 
Union " 

(1754)- 
American 
History 
Leaflets, No. 
14. 



Results of 
Albany Con- 
gress. 



action in the event of another war with the French. The 
congress adopted a Plan of Union, always known as the 
Albany Plan, which was the work mainly of Benjamin 
Franklin, one of the delegates from Pennsylvania. Many 
schemes of a similar nature had been proposed before this, 
but none had received an official sanction such as the Albany 
Congress may be said to have given to this one. Most of 
the earlier projects had contemplated the grouping of the 
colonies into two or three divisions ; the Albany Plan 
provided for a federation of all the colonies for certain 
specified objects. The functions of the federal body were 
mainly advisory, as were those of the commissioners of the 
New England Confederation. These duties were to be per- 
formed by a President-General appointed by the crown, and 
a Grand Council elected by the popular branches of the 
several colonial assemblies. The weak point in the New 
England Confederation had been the equal vote of the sev- 
eral colonies, regardless of their size or importance (§73) ; 
this defect was now remedied by apportioning the members 
of the Grand Council among the colonies according to " the 
proportion of money arising out of each colony to the gen- 
eral treasury." The plan proved distasteful to the colonial 
assemblies. It was rejected by all of them and was never 
submitted to the British government for its approval. 

The Albany Congress was an important step in the pro- 
cess of colonial union, because many of the leading men 
from the different colonies met together ; their discussions 
increased the sense of the common interest, and aided to 
diminish the prejudices which the people of many provinces 
felt toward their fellow-subjects in other colonies. The 
French wars, by bringing soldiers together from different 
parts of the continent, also operated in the same direction. 
Moreover, during the last French and Indian war. Colonel 
Washington of Virginia journeyed northward to the army 
headquarters at Boston, to lay before the commander in 
chief the complaints of colonial officers in the matter of 
relative rank in the British forces. It was in this way that 



[760] 



Negro Slavery 



lOI 



his striking figure and dignified presence became familiar 
to the people of the northern colonies. 

108. Statistics of Population, 1760. — In 1760 the 
English-American colonists numbered about one million six 
hundred thousand souls, including negroes, both slave and 
free. About one half of this population Hved on either side 
of Mason and Dixon's line ( § 87). There were nearly four 
hundred thousand negro slaves in the English colonies, 
three fourths of whom lived in the South. In this way it 
happened that the white population of the colonies south of 
Pennsylvania was considerably less than that of the North. 
Mason and Dixon's line even then divided the country into 
two well-marked sections : north of it varied industry and 
free labor prevailed ; south of it the cultivation of one or 
two staples by forced labor was the rule. 

109. Negro Slavery. — Slavery existed in all the colonies, 
but it was fast dying out in the North, although there was 
not any widespread sentiment against it in that section. 
The northern slave traders were among the most substantial 
men of their time and place. A few persons had written 
against it, notably Samuel Sewall, in The Selling of Joseph. In 
New York and New Jersey slavery existed to a limited ex- 
tent. The slaves were treated in a most lenient manner in 
both these colonies, except in two instances, when the fear 
of negro uprisings produced a panic ; many were then un- 
justly hanged or branded, and one was broken on the wheel. 

In Pennsylvania there was a more widespread public sen- 
timent against the institution of slavery than in any other 
colony, as the Quakers found it difficult to reconcile the 
ownership of human beings with the principles of their 
religion. Slavery also was unsuited to the agriculture of 
that province. In Delaware, on the other hand, it flourished 
and endured until the Civil War. 

South of Pennsylvania the case was different. Slaves 
formed about thirty per cent of the population of Maryland, 
about forty per cent of that of Virginia, and about sixty per 
cent of that of South Carolina. Only recently it had been 



Numbers, 



Slavery in 
the North- 
ern colonies. 



New York 
Negro Plot. 
*Chandler's 
Crimitial 
Trials, I, 
213-254. 



102 



A Century of Colonial History [§ 109 



Slavery in 
Maryland 
and Virginia. 
Contempo- 
raries, I, No. 
87. 



In South 
Carolina. 



legally permitted in Georgia, but there it was now making 
rapid advances. In North Carolina slaves formed a smaller 
proportion of the population than in either of the colonies 
on its borders : in one of the western counties of that prov- 
ince, it has been said that no slave was ever owned. Slavery 
was less suited to the industries of North Carolina than it 
was to those of South Carolina, and the settlers of the west- 
ern counties resembled the small farmers of the North in 
their prejudices and sentiments. 

In Maryland and Virginia the slaves, as a rule, were well 
treated. The cultivation of tobacco was comparatively easy, 
the slaves worked under the eye of the owner, they also 
labored beside the white servants, who formed a large pro- 
portion of the working element in the colonies on Chesa- 
peake Bay. The slave code, in so far as it regulated meet- 
ings, the possession of arms, and running away, was severe, 
even authorizing the dismemberment of a slave found abroad 
at night without a license. In practice, however, the treat- 
ment of slaves was humane in both these provinces. In 
South CaroUna the negroes outnumbered the whites. 
The malarial climate of the rice swamps induced the plant- 
ers to seek the sea breezes of Charleston during a large 
part of the year, while the negroes on the rice plantations 
were left to the oversight of a white superintendent aided 
by black slave drivers. The conditions under which rice 
was cultivated were harmful to the negroes also : the labor 
was severe, and the slaves became rapidly worn out. It 
was profitable, therefore, to work them to the uttermost 
during their season of bodily vigor. Constant supplies of 
new slaves were necessary, and these were procured direct 
from Africa in northern and in English slave ships. These 
newcomers were less obedient than slaves born and bred in 
America, as most of those in Maryland and Virginia were. 
The severity of the labor and the wildness of the negroes 
led to constant attempts on their part to escape across the 
Savannah River to the wilderness of Georgia, and eventually 
to Spanish Florida. This propensity to run away was met 



[760] 



White Servitude 



103 



by laws offering rewards for the arrest or destruction of the 
fugitive : fifty pounds was given to the captor of a runaway, 
if brought back ahve, — ten pounds only if the scalp was 
returned ; these rewards were for negroes found south of 
the Savannah River ; the ordinary amount paid for a negro's 
scalp was one pound. The laws were more odious in South 
Carolina than in Virginia ; but the main difference lay not 
so much in dissimilarity of laws as in the actual treatment 
of the slaves, which could be much milder in Virginia than 
in South Carolina. 

no. White Servitude. — White persons, bound to service 
for a term of years, formed an important element in many 
colonies, especially in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. 
Most of those employed in Pennsylvania were Redemption- 
ers, who bound themselves to serve for a limited time, generally 
four years, to pay their expenses from their old home to the 
New World. They were usually of a good class of immigrants, 
and after the end of their time of service became farmers 
and were merged in the white population of the colony. 

In the provinces on Chesapeake Bay, however, the con- 
ditions of white servitude were not so favorable. There 
many of the white servants were convicts transported from 
England and bound out to service for long terms of years. 
This traffic was carried on by authority of acts of Parliament 
passed in the eighteenth century, which permitted a convict 
to ask in open court to have his sentence commuted, in the 
case of the death penalty, to fourteen years' service, while 
whipping and branding might be commuted by seven years' 
service ; in either case, return to England before expiration 
of term of service was punishable with death. The people 
of Virginia and Maryland strongly objected to this inroad of 
criminals, and sought to limit the evil by passing laws re- 
stricting their importation. These laws, however, as well as 
those limiting the slave trade, were either annulled or vetoed 
by the king, as being contrary to acts of Parliament. 

III. Religion. — -The religious life of the inhabitants of 
the several colonies was largely determined by the conditions 



White 
servants. 



Convicts in 
Virginia and 
Maryland. 



I04 



A Century of Colonial History 



Religion : 
The Estab- 
lished 
Church. 



New Eng- 
land Congre- 
gationalists. 



of settlement. These have already been mentioned ; but 
other considerations had profoundly affected religion, and it 
will be well to examine briefly the actual state of affairs in 
1 760. The Church of England was completely established 
by law in only one colony, — Maryland. No matter what 
their religious preferences were, all taxpayers in that province 
were compelled to contribute to the support of the minister 
of the Established Church. In the Carolinas the church 
was recognized by law as the state church, but there was 
complete toleration for all Christians in those colonies. The 
church was also established in Virginia, but its management 
was largely in the hands of the planters. The Church of 
England was weak in the Northern colonies, except in New 
York, where it was steadily gaining strength. 

In New England, save in Rhode Island, the Congregational 
Church was cherished by colonial laws, but, on the other 
hand, the actual management of religion was in the hands of 
the local religious authorities. The New England clergy, of 
whom Jonathan Edwards is the best example, formed a caste 
almost as completely as did the .Virginia planters. In Penn- 
sylvania and Rhode Island religion was absolutely free. In 
other colonies there was toleration for Protestants, but, 
except in Pennsylvania, Roman Catholics were debarred 
from civil rights or subjected to severe penalties. 

As the century advanced, the Protestant dissenters be- 
came more and more numerous in the Old Dominion. 
Alarmed at this turn of affairs, the rulers of the colony niade 
stringent laws against them, but in 1760 probably nearly one 
half of the white population of Virginia was outside of the 
Established Church. The weakness of the church was due 
in part to the poor character of many of its ministers. In 
these circumstances it seemed very desirable that an Ameri- 
can bishop should be appointed who could exercise much 
more effective control than the far-off Bishop of London. 
As often as this plan was proposed, it was defeated. The 
American clergy did not want a bishop near at hand, nor 
did the laymen, especially in Virginia, desire to give up the 



1760] Education 105 

control which they exercised over the clergy of the several 
parishes. The members of the dissenting faiths were filled 
with alarm : their ancestors had fled from England to avoid 
the control exercised by bishops and it was of slight use to 
inform them that an American bishop would have only such 
civil power as the laws of each colony might give him. 
They enlisted the sympathies of their fellow-dissenters in 
England, and no bishop was ever appointed. The Revo- 
lution did away with the authority of English law in the 
United States, and at once all objections to the appoint- 
ment of bishops were removed (§ 174). 

112. Education. — Throughout New England, except in Secondary 
Rhode Island, provision was made for the teaching of read- education, 
ing, writing, and elementary mathematics, and the larger 
towns generally provided instruction of a sufficiently ad- 
vanced grade to fit students for the New England colleges. 
The Dutch had provided educational facilities in connection 
with their religious establishments, and this latter feature 
proved to be fatal to them after the English conquest. 
There does not appear to have been any provision for gen- 
eral public instruction in New York in 1 760. In New Jer- 
sey and Pennsylvania, the Quakers and the Presbyterians 
endeavored to -educate the young. In Maryland there were 
a few schools supported by general taxation, but they exerted 
slight influence. The Virginians from time to time had en- 
deavored to relieve their colony of the reproach contained 
in the well-known boast of the old royalist governor. Sir 
William Berkeley, that he " thanked God there were no free 
schools " in the province. Their efforts do not seem to have 
led to tangible results, for the whole life of Virginia was op- 
posed to general education. The children of well-to-do 
parents received instruction at the hands of a private tutor 
or of the parish clergyman ; those who could not afford to 
pay for private tuition for their children taught them as well 
as they could. William and Mary College was not unlike an 
English public school of that time, and it furnished the Vir- 
ginians of the richer class with a good education. Many 



io6 A Century of Colonial History [§112 

Virginians were good classical scholars, and many more had 
studied deeply the constitutional history of England. 

There were some half dozen colleges in the colonies : 
Harvard, Yale, King's (Columbia), New Jersey (Princeton), 
Pennsylvania, and William and Mary. Their scheme of 
education was designed for the training of clergymen of one 
faith or another. None of them was much above the grade 
of a high school of the present day, but they performed a use- 
ful service in keeping alive a love of learning. Only one of 
them can be regarded as a place of scientific education ; this 
was the University of Pennsylvania, which had been 
founded by Franklin. Organized on a liberal basis, it grew 
rapidly, and in five years after its beginning had four 
hundred students on its rolls. 

Medical education was beginning to attract attention, 
but the only profession which vied with that of the clergy was 
the law. Its rise belongs almost entirely to the eighteenth 
century, and it was the generation which brought about the 
separation from England that gave the legal profession its 
high standing. It is surprising to note how many men who 
were prominent in this great movement were lawyers : 
James Otis, John Adams, Stephen Hopkins, Roger Sherman, 
John Jay, Thomas McKean, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jeffer- 
son, and the Rutledges, to mention no others. They gave 
to the period a legal aspect which has ever since been one 
of the distinguishing characteristics of American politics. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 78-83. New England, 1660-64 

a. Give a brief sketch of English history, 1660-1760. 
k Place in a note-book, as a heading, " England's Commercial Pol- 
icy," and enter under it all fitting information as you proceed. 

c. Compare the commercial policy of England at different periods 
with that of the United States to-day. 

d. Compare the policy of Massachusetts as to the Quakers with that 
of the United States as to immigrants at the present time. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 107 

§§ 86-90. Pennslyvania 

a. Place in note-book, as heading, " Mason and Dixon's line " 
and enter all fitting information as you proceed. 

/>. Compare the government of Pennsylvania under the charter of 
1 701 with that of Massachusetts, of Connecticut, of Virginia, and of 
Carolina at the same time. 

§§ 91-92. The Carolinas 

a. Compare the settlement of Charleston with that of Byzantium. 
l>. Compare " colonial life " in Charleston, in Boston, in Philadel- 
pliia, in Williamsburg, and in New York. 

§§ 93-96- Virginia 
a. Justify from the text the byword, "ungrateful as a Stuart." 
d. Compare the treatment and the actions of the Virginians and of 
the Massachusetts men in the years 1660-76. Which group of colo- 
nists showed the greater political sagacity? Prove your statement. 

c. Find out all you can about the early years of Harvard College, 
of Yale College, and of William and Mary College. 

§§ 97-100, 102, 103. Constitutional Struggles 

a. Show by recital of events that an identical struggle was going on 
in England and in the colonies. What was the nature of this struggle? 
Describe the government established in Massachusetts under Andros. 

d. Contrast the Dominion of New England with the New England 
Confederation and the plan proposed by the Albany Congress. 

§§98-108. The Colonies, 1688-1760 

a. State carefully the effect of the " Glorious Revolution " upon each 
colony separately, and its general influence upon the fortunes of English 
America. 

d. Compare the steady growth in the power of representative legis- 
lative bodies in the colonies and in England from 1688-1760, and give 
the causes in each case. 

c. In the quarrels with the royal governors, what important princi- 
ple was at stake? What effect upon these quarrels would the appoint- 
ment of the treasurer by the Assembly have? 

§ 100. Georgia 

a. Compare C glethorpe's colony of Georgia with Penn's colony of 
Pennsylvania. 

i. What matter in this section should be entered under " Negro 
Slavery " ? 






■stvt '^nanne 



-^ war .TuwmMCf 3r j«n^«i»nic :&e Jkaacsr 






isw-cc ... 

&. ravttrmr Da&t 5Biu« sHsssiSK: it batons :fie aifesaiclje*- I 

'■ ' 1 



ic-;.:^i^^^ i:^_ ■;, 



■-ifc«.J^ 



<£ >fake the necessarv c&anges in. vour triups oa Tecritatial Htstocy 
4IIU Bi t^e map Q£"yQtir own state. 

1 jirxs-tfve v^w of t&e Ettgji^ colonies in. t7<3o» notmg: 
^ ^ .ical extent of each, colottir? (a) tiistrtbticioa of popula- 
r.oa; ■• tjxd secvattts ; {4.) instittttions {it) derived ttom 

Engiai! id fro ox oliec sources or invented^ 

^^ LVic-; :.ii.ijial mstitutions towards divsioa of powers^ Irmtted 
power of legislative bodies. Contrast with, contemporary Englishi 
de»eIopaieat towards ceatralizatron of power^ supremacy of Par- 
Bament. 

-. Mjki ti'^<t jc' -"rr-a;,-c-r -I --'.itation fioiir.. 

J. tsiv-ew ill iojjiccs :ii a'C'-^^ook and prepare each, as a con- 
brtuous cecttation. 

(T. Let written recitations be demanded on any pomts touched in 
^ei^ujsdons^ 

Topics fob. tsTBsnGAXiDijr by ISDrvtDcatL Stttdests 

(,See note umfe- this head at aid, ofChagter L) 

J. A sommanr of the Xavtgatiott Ordinances and Acts (§ 7S). 

y. The trials or dte Quakers (§ 79"!. 

fc. Bacon's Rebellion ,5 04"'. 

A The causes of Kinsr Philio's War (_§ gfe). 

d. Was Leisler 1 reLi. 

/; La. Sallff's >CssssL : ion (§ 1:04.). 

^. Plans of Cttiun» eq4.j.-:.75+ ^ j K17).. 



CHAPTER IV 

INTERCOLONIAL UNION, 1 760-1 774 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. --Fiske's IVar of InJepeucfence, t,()-?,6; Hig- 
ginson's Larger History, 223-249; Fisher's Struggle for Independence ; 
Lodge's Etiglisk Colonies, 476-494. On this period in England, Gar- 
diner's Student's History, 765-782, or Higginson and Channing's 
English History for Americans. 

Special Accounts. — Channing's United States, III, chs. i-v; 
Greene's Historical Vieto; * Frothingham's /Cise of the Republic; 
Fiske's American Revolution ; * Lecky's England, III, ch. xii ; * Hil- 
dreth's United States ; Larned's History for Ready Reference, under 
United States and the several states. 

Sources. — Local Records and Histories, Guide, §§ 37,43 ; Biogra- 
phies, Guide, § 151, especially Tudor's Otis ; Hutchinson's Massachu- 
setts ; W^nvy's Patrick Henry ; WiXts's, Principles and Acts ; * Force's 
American Archives ; HavVs Contemporaries ; American History Leaf- 
lets ; MacDonald's Documentary Source Book. 

Maps. — Hart's Epoch Maps, No. 5 ; MacCoun's Historical Geog- 
raphy ; Winsor's America, VI. 

Bibliography.— Guide to Atnerican History, §§ 149-152. 

Illustrative Material. — Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution; 
Adams's Three Episodes ; Vz.tton's Jefferson diVid Franklin ; Schouler's 
Jefferson (M,A.) ; StQ\tf% Expansion of England ; * Merivale's Colo- 
nizaiion ; Tyler's American Literature ; * Baird's Huguenot Emigra- 
tion ; Ann Maury's Huguenot Family ; John Adams's Diary ; Win- 
sor's Memorial History of Boston ; Wilson's Memorial History of New 
York; Egle's Pennsylvania ; Scharf's Philadelphia and Maryland; 
Campbell's Virginia; Jones's Georgia; Weeden's Economic and 
Social History of Ne7v England; Mahon's England, ch. xliii ; Hos- 
xa^x'% Samuel Adams (^.<i.); *YoxA\ True George Washington, ^x^A. 
his Many-sided Franklin ; Franklin's Autobiography ; Tyler's Patrick 
Henry (S.S.); Hosmer's Thomas Hutchinson; Mrs. Child's The 
Rebels; Cooke's Virginia (A.C.) ; Youth of Jefferson ; Fairfax; 

110 



1760] Change in the Colonial Policy of Britain iii 

Doc/or Vandy/ce ; Hawthorne's Septiiniits Fellon ; Sedgwick's The 
Liiiwoods ; Bynner's Agnes Surriage ; Longfellow's Tales of a Way- 
side Inn ; Irving's Life of IVashinglon (abridged ed.) ; Parkman's 
Conspiracy of Pontine ; Thompson's Green Mountain Boys. 



INTERCOLONIAL UNION, 1 760-1 774 

113. Change in the Colonial Policy of Britain. — In the 

'forty years between 1720 and 1760 there had been incessant 
political strife between the colonists and the representatives 
of the British government. These disputes had been essen- 
tially local and personal, — in regard to such matters as the 
taxation of proprietaries' lands, the extension of the fran- 
chise, the importation of convicts, the raising of troops, the 
issue of paper money, the organization of banks on insecure 
foundations, and the establishment of courts of law. Gen- 
erally the opposition of the colonists had taken the form of 
a refusal to vote money for salaries or for soldiers until their 
demands were complied with. Sometimes the colonists 
had carried their differences to England and had won their 
point. In other cases the home government had interfered 
and had forbidden the colonists to do what they wished, as 
in the case of the Massachusetts land-banks. No serious 
opposition had been aroused, probably because the colonists 
felt confidence in the justice of the British government. 
Moreover, Sir Robert Walpole and his immediate successors 
had carefully avoided all measures that seemed likely to 
arouse opposition at home or in the colonies. 

In 1760 George III ascended the throne. Born in Eng- 
land, he was ambitious to rule well and to regain for the 
monarchy the power which the kings had once wielded in 
the state. To accomplish this he destroyed the power of 
the old governing aristocracy and appointed men to high 
offices who would do his bidding. These men tried to ease 
British taxpayers at the expense of the colonists and the 
Americans resisted. There was really slight connection be- 
tween the king's policy in England and this new colonial 
system ; but the opposition by taking up the cause of the 



The colonies 
and Britain 
before 1760. 
*\Vinsor"s 
America, 
VI, 62-68; 
Fiske's Rev- 
olution, I, 
1-6. 



George III 
and his pol- 
icy. Fiske's 
Revolution, 

38-45; 
Channing's 
United 
States, III, 
ch. ii. 



112 Intercolonial Union [§114 

colonists bound them together and made the maintenance 

of the king's power in England and America dependent one 

on the other. The conflict with America arose out of an 

attempt to enforce the trade laws, and the impulse to this 

movement was given by William Pitt. 

Restrictions 114- ^^^ Colonial System, 1688-1760. — The principal 

on trade ;ind features of the Colonial system before the Revolution of 

manufac- ^^gg j^^^^ 1^^^^^ already traced (§ 78). From that time 

tures. Win- , ,, . i i i i- r 

sor's restrictions were gradually mcreased, and the list 01 enu- 

America,v\, merated goods was constantly enlarged. Restrictions were 
^~^°' also laid on colonial manufactures which were likely to come 

into competition with English interests. The earliest of 
these laws was passed in 1699; ^^ prohibited the exporta- 
tion of wool or any manufacture of wool from any American 
colony to any other colony, to Great Britain, or to any 
foreign country. Later, the iron industry of the colonies 
was limited to the production of crude iron alone ; all the 
later stages of its manufacture were to be performed in 
Britain. Regarding the system as a whole, it is impossible 
to say that it was to the disadvantage of the colonists, for 
what they lost in one direction, they gained in another. 
The Virginians, for instance, were forbidden to ship their 
tobacco to a foreign port, but they were given a moijopoly 
of the British tobacco markets. 
TiieSu^ar 'i'he act which might have inflicted hardship was the 

Act, 1733. " Sugar Act" of 1733, providing for the collection of high 
.duties on foreign sugar, molasses, and rum imported into 
any colonial port on the continent of North America. Had 
this been carried out, it would have brought disaster to the 
continental colonies as their prosperity depended in very 
great measure on the commerce with the West Indies, both 
British and foreign. 

115. Difficulties in Enforcing the Laws. — It proved to be 
well-nigh impossible to enforce these laws. Colonial im- 
porters and royal officials combined to evade them to their 
own profit. During the last war with France, northern mer- 
chants kept on trading with the French and Spanish sugar 



I76I] 



Writs of Assistance 



113 



islands. Pitt ordered the customs officials to do their duty, 
and, by a display of zeal, they endeavored to atone for their 
former laxity. It was found to be most difficult to carry 
out Pitt's instructions : it was not easy to seize goods on 
which no duty had been paid ; it was practically impossible 
to secure a conviction from a colonial jury. Ordinary search 
warrants were of little use because they authorized the 
seizure of specified goods in specified places. The owner 
of the merchandise was certain to learn that the warrant had 
been issued and by mov- 
ing his goods into another 
warehouse he could save 
them from seizure. 

116. Writs of Assist- 
ance, 1761. — These were 
general search warrants 
which authorized the 
holder to seize any sus- 
pected goods anywhere 
and to break into houses 
to search for them. In 
1 761 the customs officials 
at Boston applied to the 
court for new writs of as- 
sistance and the mer- 
chants employed James 
Otis to oppose their being granted. From the strictly legal 
standpoint the case seemed to be in favor of the royal side. 
Otis, therefore, boldly asserted that Parliament could not 
legalize tyranny and the use of writs of assistance was often 
tyrannical. Such a law would be contrary to the British 
constitution and therefore void. Otis's argument, however 
weak in point of law, was in harmony with the ideas then 
prevalent in America. Some months later, the writs were 
granted by the court and were often used not only in Mas- 
sachusetts but in some other colonies as well. In 1767 their 
issue in the colonies was declared to be legal by an act of 




James Otis 



Reasons foi 
the issue of 
Writs of 
Assistance, 
Channing's 
United 
States, III, 
1-12. 



Otis's 
speech. 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 33. 



114 



Intercolonial Union 



117 



Political 

theories. 

*Frothing- 

ham's 

Republic, 

168-170. 



Parliament. The only remedy in the hands of the colonists 
was resistance by armed force, and for that few colonists 
as yet were prepared. 

117. Otis's Rights of the Colonies, 1764. —A few years 
later Otis embodied his ideas of the rights of the colonists 
in two essays, entitled: A Vindication of the House of Rep- 
resentatives and The Rights of the Colonies Asserted and 
Proved. His arguments in these papers are mainly a mere 




Patrick Henry 

restatement of the ground assumed by Locke in his Essay 
on Government. Otis asserted that " God made all men 
naturally equal," and that government was instituted for the 
benefit of the governed : it followed that if a government 
were harmful to the people, it should be opposed and 
destroyed ; the colonists were on a footing of complete 
equality with the subjects of the king living in Great Brit- 
ain. In conclusion, however, Otis admitted the supremacy 
of the British Parliament, and thus denied the logical con- 
clusion of his argument. Patrick Henry of Virginia had no 
such scruples. In his speech on the Parson's Cause he 
stated the theory of colonial rights in its complete form. 

118. The Parson's Cause, 1763. — This celebrated case 
arose out of the exercise by the king of the power to veto 
acts of the Virginia Assembly. The salaries of the clergy- 



■.763] 



The Parson s Cause 



115 



Eighteen. PE NCE. s»3 ^^^3fJJ^ J** »V. 

THIS BitL by L AW S&iW pifs Smnru (few-JEBiEY, *'S 1 
(or ftur Ptnnj-wtiuhl, [«] gnd jVm. Griiiii of Ptati.^^J;: 

*' December ji, 1763 . r- > . ». » 









5 Eigbtetit-Pfnce. 5 




men of that province were estimated in tobacco, as was 
nearly everything else. Sometimes tobacco fell to one 
penny a pound f at other times it rose to six pence. In 
1758 foreseeing a small crop of tobacco and consequently a 
very high price, the Virginia Assembly passed a law to the 
effect that all payments due in tobacco might be paid in 
money at the rate of two pence for each pound of tobacco. 
This law was known as the Two Penny Act and was to be 
in force for only one year. The clergymen appealed to the 
British government to annul it and it was vetoed by the 
king. This was in 1760. Meantime the church authorities 
in Virginia had paid 
the parsons' salaries for 
the year 1 758 in money 
at the rate of two pence 
for every pound of to- 
bacco due them. The 
clergymen sued for the 
difference between 
what they had received 
and the full value of 

the tobacco. In one of these cases Patrick Henry was em- 
ployed to oppose the parsons' claims. He was a most 
industrious young lawyer and had received a good education 
especially in English legal history. 

Putting aside the legalities of the case, Henry declared 
that government was a conditional compact between the 
king, stipulating protection on the one hand, and the 
people, stipulating obedience and support on the other. 
The Two Penny Act was passed for the good of the people 
of Virginia, and its veto by the king was a violation of the 
conditional compact and an instance of misrule and neglect, 
which made it necessary for the people of Virginia to pro- 
vide for their own safety. The king had " degenerated into 
a tyrant and forfeited all right to his subjects' obedience." 
Nevertheless, under the ruling of the court, the jury must 
award damages to the parson, but they would satisfy the law 



The Par- 
son's Cause, 
1763. Fiske's 
Revolution, 
1,18; Con- 
temporaries, 
II, No. 37. 







New Jersey Currency 



(Henry's 
'speech. 
Tyler's 
\ Patrick 
Henry, 
ch. iv. 



ii6 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 119 



Pontiac's 
Rebellion. 
Winsor's 
America, VI, 
688-701. 



The new 

British 

colonial 

policy. 

Channing's 

United States, 

III. 35-46. 



The Stamp 
Act pro- 
posed, 1764 ; 
passed, 1765. 



by the smallest possible award. They assessed the damages 
at one penny. In this case, and in that of writs of assist- 
ance, Henry and Otis merely uttered what many men 
thought ; they had said nothing new, but they had struck a 
heavy blow at the continuance of a sentiment of loyalty. 
A heavier blow to that sentiment was inflicted by the British 
Parliament in the passage of the Stamp Act. 

119. Grenville's Policy. — The French and Indian War 
ended with the capture of Montreal in 1760, although the 
Treaty of Paris was not signed until 1763. The Indians 
living in the Northwest found it difficult to believe that 
their friends, the French, had really been beaten. They 
captured several forts on the Great Lakes, and under the 
lead of Pontiac blockaded Detroit for several months. This 
Indian rebellion, and the maintenance of English authority 
in Canada, demanded the presence of a large force of reg- 
ular soldiers in the northern colonies and in Canada. The 
British government thought that the colonists might well 
shoulder a large part of the expense of those troops. The 
Quartering Act obliged them to furnish those soldiers who 
were stationed in the old thirteen colonies with lodging and 
some of their food without cost to England. According to 
the old law the duties on molasses were so high that it was 
more jirofitable to import it without payment, even at the 
risk of losing the goods, than it was to pay the duties. 
Grenville lowered the rates on sugar and molasses in order 
to do away with the temptation to evade the law and make 
them produce revenue. He also made new regulations to 
enforce the Navigation Acts. He decided in addition to tax 
the colonists directly by an act of Parliament. This aroused 
indignation from the Penobscot to the Altamaha. 

120. Passage of the Stamp Act, 1765. — In March, 1764, 
Grenville stated in .the House of Commons that it might 
be thought necessary for the colonists to contribute toward 
the support of the troops stationed amongst them for their 
protection. He moved a resolution to this effect, which 
was passed without debate or opposition. He deferred 



1765] The Stamp Act 117 

bringing in a bill based on this resolution, in the expecta- 
tion that the colonial assemblies might propose some other 
method of taxation by Parliament, or, perhaps, might vote 
the necessary funds. Grenville did not believe that the 
colonists would protest against being taxed by Parliament ; 
but this was precisely what they did. Assembly after as- 
sembly petitioned in vigorous language against the pro- 
posed measure, but these petitions were not even received 
by the House of Commons. The act levying stamp duties 
was brought in and passed without serious opposition, and 
received the royal assent in March, 1765. 

121. The Stamp Act. — The act in itself was on the same Analysis of 
lines as a law in force in Britain at that time. Legal docu- the act. 
ments and official papers were to be written on stamped 

paper, and a stamp was to be placed on several articles, such 
as printed books, newspapers, and playing cards. Ordinary 
business papers and receipts for money paid were not in- 
cluded among the articles to be taxed, and the measure was 
less severe in its operation than the law then in force in 
Great Britain. It was not intended to draw the money thus | 
raised to England, but to expend it in America in the pur- i 
chase of food and other supplies for the soldiers. The evil 
feature of the act as a law was that persons accused of 
offenses under it might not enjoy the benefits of trial by jury, 'i 
at the discretion of the prosecuting officer. The Stamp Act ; 
was opposed in America, not on its merits as a piece of legis- ; 
lation, but on the ground that " no taxation without represen- | 
tation " was one of the leading maxims of the Constitution ' 
of the British Empire and one of the most important rights 
of the American colonists as Englishmen. 

122. Representative Institutions. — The phrase "no tax- " No taxa- 
ation without representation " was familiar to all sections of ''o" without 
the British people, but it conveyed very different ideas to [f^J'^"'^" ^' 
those living in Great Britain and to their kinsfolk in the 
colonies. The British Parliatnent was composed of two 

houses, — the Peers, comprising hereditary nobles and the 
bishops, and the House of Commons. The members of the 



ii8 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 122 



Representa- 
tion in 
Britain. 



Representa- 
tion in the 
colonies. 



latter body were elected, and were supposed to represent all 
classes of the people. Some of the electoral districts, in- 
deed, contained no inhabitants. In one of these, Old Sarum, 
it was possible in dry seasons to trace the foundations of old 
buildings by the color of the grass ; in another, Midhurst, the 
sites of old allotments were marked by stone posts ; while 
one borough " had sunk beneath the waters of the North 
Sea." Yet each of these returned members to the House 
of Commons. 

In the colonies, representation was everywhere apportioned 
on a territorial basis, which was being constantly changed to 
suit the altered conditions of the several parts of each colony. 
As new towns or counties were formed, either by the growth 
of settlements already made or by the colonization of new 
regions, the inhabitants of these new divisions sent represen- 
tatives to the colonial legislatures. This right was regarded 
as a most valuable one in the colonies. When the English 
government directed the governor of Virginia to refuse his 
assent to bills erecting new counties unless the people of 
the new division would forego their right of representation, 
it was resented as an act of tyranny. 

In the matter of the franchise there was an equally wide 
difference of opinion. In Great Britain, it depended, for 
the most part, upon the possession of some peculiar privi- 
lege. In the colonies, the franchise was regulated by gen- 
eral rules and was usually given to all free adult white men 
who possessed a moderate amount of property. In the 
southern colonies, the suffrage was usually restricted to land- 
owners ; but it was easy to acquire land in those colonies, 
and the qualification, although it resembled the English 
county franchise in form, had no resemblance to it in fact. 
In Great Britain, there was no requirement of residence for 
the representative or the voter. In the colonies, residence 
was ordinarily required for both the voter and the represen- 
tative. It was felt that the latter really represented the 
wishes and interests of those who had taken a part in his 
election. To the colonist, therefore, the phrase "no taxa- 



1765] Representative Institutions 119 

tion without representation " meant that no tax could be 
levied except by vote of a legislative body in which a person 
known to the voter, and in whose election he had taken part, 
had a seat ; but to an Englishman the phrase meant simply 
" no taxation except by vote of the House of Commons." 

123. English Theory of Representation. — The English Virtual 
idea of representative government signified representation representa- 
of all classes of the community, and not at all representation 

by population. The great mass of Englishmen belonging to 
any particular class had no vote for a member of the House 
of Commons, but other Englishmen of the same class had a 
vote. It was held, therefore, that all the members of that 
class were virtually represented. It was easy to extend the 
theory and to "argue that the colonists were also represented, 
inasmuch as merchants interested in colonial trade were rep- 
resented in the House of Commons. The English idea of Mansfield's 
the matter was admirably summed up by Lord Mansfield, ^pss^^h- 

Ada.ms's 

then Chief Justice of England, in the course of the debates British 
in the House of Lords on the repeal of the Stamp Act. He Orations, 
said : " There can be no doubt but that the inhabitants of' ' ^^°' 
the colonies are as much represented in Parliament as the 
greatest part of the people of England are. ... A member 
of Parliament chosen for any borough represents not only 
the constituents and inhabitants of that particular place, but 
he represents the city of London, and all the commons of 
the land, and the inhabitants of all the colonies and domin- 
ions of Great Britain." Writers like Jefferson contended, on 
the other hand, that however true this might be as to Eng- 
lishmen, it had no application to the colonists, who, unlike 
the English people, could exert no pressure, either physical 
or moral, upon the actual electors and the chosen members. 
The colonists could not understand the theory which held 
them to be represented in the British Parliament, and they 
determined to resist the attempt to tax them to the utmost 
of their ability. 

124. Resistance in America. — Patrick Henry's speech on 
the Parson's Cause had given him great popularity. He 



I20 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 124 



The 

Virginia 
Assembly. 



Henry's 
resolutions. 



was soon elected to fill a vacancy which had occurred in the 
House of Burgesses, as the representative branch of the 
Virginia Assembly was termed. He had never before sat in 
a legislative body, and waited impatiently for one of the 
more experienced men to propose a formal protest against 
the Stamp Act ; but the leading men were fully employed in 
dealing with a matter of financial irregularity on the part of the 
Speaker, who was also the Treasurer of the Province. As the 
session neared its close and none of the leaders proposed to 
take any action in regard to the Stamp Act, Henry arose and 
moved a set of resolutions, which he forced on the attention 




of the reluctant burgesses by a most fiery speech. They were 
all adopted, but the next day, after Henry's departure, the 
boldest of them was rescinded. The two most important are 
here given in full : 

''Resolved, That his Majesty's liege people of this his 
ancient colony have enjoyed the right of being thus gov- 
erned by their own Assembly in the article of taxes and 
internal police, and that tlie same has never been forfeited, 
or any other way yielded up, but have been constantly 
recognized by the King and people of Great Britain. 

" Resolved, Therefore, that the General Assembly of this 
colony, together with his Majesty or his substitutes, have, 
m their representative capacity, the only exclusive right 
and power to lay taxes and imposts upon the inhabitants 
of this colony ; and that every attempt to vest such power 
in any other person or persons whatever than the General 
Assembly aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional, and unjust, 
and has a manifest tendency to destroy British as well as 



1765] 



The Stamp Act Congress 



121 



The act 
nullified. 



American liberty." In otlier words, the Virginia Assembly 
denied the power of Parliament to legislate in any way on 
the internal concerns of the Old Dominion. 

In August, the names of the stamp distributors were pub- 
lished. At once riots occurred in New Hampshire, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode 
Island. Before long, every stamp distributor was forced 
to resign. The rioters at Boston were especially violent, 
for there the resentment of the people was directed against 
the customs officials as well as against the stamp officers. 
Hutchinson, the lieutenant governor and -chief justice who 
had given the decision in favor of writs of assistance, was 
marked out for the vengeance of the excited people. His 
house was broken open and his valuable books and papers 
destroyed. As the stamps and the stamped paper arrived 
from England, they were stored in the forts or on vessels in 
the harbor. The first of November arrived when the act 
was to have gone into effect, and not a stamp could be 
bought. There was not a man in America who had author- 
ity to open the packages and sell the stamps, and in the 
condition of the public mind then prevailing, no one was 
willing to take the responsibility of forcing them upon the 
people. On the contrary, the royal officials were obliged I 
to disregard the act ; even the courts were compelled to_^ 
proceed regardless of the law. 

125. The Stamp Act Congress, 1765. — Meantime, in Stamp Act 

Tune, on the motion of Tames Otis, the Massachusetts Congress, 

. . 1765. 

House of Representatives had invited the assemblies of the *Frothing- 

other colonies to send delegates to a general meeting or ham's Re- 
congress to be held in October. On the appointed day, *" 
October 7, delegates from all the colonies whose assemblies 
were in session, except that of New Hampshire, met at 
New York. The majority of the members were moderate 
men, and the congress did nothing except to formulate a 
Declaration of Rights and petitions to the king and to the 
Houses of Parliament. The Declaration of Rights is im- 
portant, because it is the first utterance of any consider- 



public, 184- 



122 Intercolonial Union [§ 126 

Declaration* able number of the colonies on the questions which were 
of Rights, soon to be of supreme importance. After acknowledging 
^''^^' allegiance to the " crown of Great Britain," and declaring 

themselves to be entitled to the same liberties as " his 
natural born subjects ... in Great Britain," they assert 
that the " people of the colonies are not, and, from their 
local circumstances, cannot be represented in the House 
of Commons," and that no taxes " can be constitutionally 
imposed on them but by their respective legislatures " ; they 
also called attention to the clauses of the Stamp Act above 
noted, as to the trial of cases arising under it in the 
admiralty courts, and asserted " that trial by jury is the 
inherent and invaluable right of every British subject in 
these colonies." 

Although the Stamp Act Congress produced slight direct 
results, its meeting was of the utmost importance. For 
three quarters of a century the British government had 
endeavored to unite the colonies in opposition to the 
French, and had been unsuccessful. Now the colonies 
came together of their own accord to defend their rights 
against the encroachments of king and Parliament. 
Enforcement 126. Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766. — The Grenville 
or repeal. ministry was now no longer in office. In its place was the 
Marquess of Rockingham and his followers. The king 
disliked them as leaders of the Whig aristocracy from whose 
yoke he was striving to free the monarchy. Rockingham 
could hope for no help from his royal master, and he had 
few followers, of whom none were men of mark except 
Edmund Burke, who was not a member of the government. 
This weak ministry came into office at the moment when 
a most serious crisis was impending. There was in addi- 
tion to the trouble in America a controversy over general 
warrants in England, which involved issues similar to those 
that underlay the question of writs of assistance in Massa- 
chusetts. As to the Stamp Act, it was difficult to know 
what to do. In the temper then prevailing in America, it 
was absolutely impossible to enforce it without an armed 



1766] 



Repeal of the Stamp Act 



123 



conflict, and there could be no question of modifying the 
act, as It was well drawn. The colonists objected to being 
taxed at all by any legislative body in which they held them- 
selves to be unrepresented. In this state of doubt, the 
Rockingham ministry determined to repeal the act, partly 
on account of the shrewd observations of Dr. Franklin, then 
in London as agent for several colonies. They also hoped 
to gain the support of WiUiam Pitt, whose hearty co-opera- 
tion might have enabled the ministry to maintain itself in 
power. Pitt denied the right of Parliament to lay internal 
taxes on the colonies and rejoiced that America had re- 
sisted. He sought to draw a line between external and 
internal taxation, and argued that, although Parliament 
could regulate trade and raise a revenue, while so doing, 
it could not lay direct internal taxes on the colonists. The 
same view was enforced in the House of Peers by Lord 
Camden, who urged that taxation without representation 
was against the constitution. Their arguments were ably 
met in the Commons by George Grenville, and in the Peers 
by Lord Mansfield, who had the law clearly on their side, 
although expediency was as plainly with Pitt and Camden, 
The English merchants petitioned for the repeal of the act, 
on the ground that the disturbances which it had caused 
in America were disastrous to colonial trade. Thus urged, 
and with the means of retreat pointed out by Pitt, the 
ministers brought in two bills, — one to repeal the Stamp 
Act, the other declaring that Parliament had power to 
" legislate for the colonies in all cases whatsoever." Both 
bills passed and became law. Thus ParUament upheld the 
theory of its legislative supremacy, but gave way on a 
particular point. The colonists, considering that they had 
won, rejoiced greatly, and no name was more popular with 
them than that of William Pitt. In reality, however, by the 
Declaratory Act, Parliament had retained full right to tax 
the colonists whenever it might seem best. There can be 
no question that Pitt was wrong in his attempt to separate 
the taxing power from the general legislative power, and 



Pitt's speech, 
Adams's 
British 
Orations, 
98 ; Con- 
temporaries, 
II, No. 142. 



The Act 
repealed. 



The 

Declaratory 
Act. Chan- 
ning's United 
States, III, ^o. 



124 



Intercolonial Union 



127 



Chatham- 
Grafton 
ministry. 



The Town- 
shend Acts, 
1767. Chan- 
ning's United 
States, \U,ch. 
iv; Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 28-32. 



that Mansfield and Grenville were right in asserting that 
one could not exist without the other. 

127. The Townshend Acts, 1767. — The yielding to Pitt 
did not bring to the Rockingham ministry the support of 
that statesman. On the contrary, he soon became the head 
of a government which is known as the Chatham-Grafton 
ministry. William Pitt, now a peer, with the title of Earl 
of Chatham, was the real leader, although the Duke of 
Grafton was the nominal head. The other members of the 
government were drawn from all parties, — followers of 
Rockingham and Pitt, and even Tories, like Lord North. 
Indeed, so many elements were represented, that Burke 
laughingly described it as a bit of " tesselated pavement" 
and christened it "The Mosaic Ministry." Chatham almost 
immediately retired to his country house, the victim of 
some peculiar malady, which seems to have resembled the 
" nervous prostration " of our day. Under these circum- 
stances, the most energetic man took the lead, and he was 
Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer or min- 
ister of finance. Relying on the Declaratory Act, he pro- 
ceeded to carry out the new colonial policy, except as to 
internal taxes. This led to the passing of several bills 
(1767), which are usually known from their promoter as the 
Townshend Acts, (i) One act provided for a colonial 
revenue, to be raised from a tax on wine, oil, glass, paper, 
lead, painters' colors, and tea imported into the colonies, 
the duties to be paid at importation, and (2) the proceeds 
used to pay the salaries of the governors and judges of the 
royal provinces, in this way rendering them independent of 
the votes of the colonial assemblies. (3) Another enact- 
ment provided for the appointment of a Board of Customs 
Commissioners, resident in the colonies, who would be 
able to exercise effective control of the customs service. 

(4) Writs of assistance were also declared to be legal, and 

(5) provision was made for the trial of revenue cases by 
admiralty courts without juries. (6) At nearly the same 
time^ Parliament suspended the functions of the legislative 



[768] 



Resistance to the Townshend Acts 



125 



assembly of New York because it had not made provision 
for the support of the British regiments stationed in the 
city of New York, as was required by the Quartering Act. 
These various enactments raised most serious issues : (i) the 
constitutional relations of Parliament and the several colonial 
legislatures, (2) the right of trial by jury, (3) the control of 
the judiciary and executive by the people, (4) the legality 
of writs of assistance, and (5) the right of Parliament to 
tax goods imported into 
the colonies. The an- 
swer of the colonists was 
not long delayed, nor 
was it easily misunder- 
stood. 

128. Resistance to 
the Townshend Acts, 
1768, 1769. — Non-im- 
portation agreements 
were again proposed, 
especially by Virginia, 
but without much effect, 
and in the Letters of a 
Pen nsylva nia Fa riner, 
John Dickinson, one of 
the truest-hearted and 
best men of the revolutionary epoch, pointed out " that any 
law, in so far as it creates expense, is in reality a tax." It 
was on New England, however, that the new legislation would 
bear most severely, and it was New England, especially Massa- 
chusetts, that took the lead in opposition. In the winter of 
1767-68 the representatives voted several petitions and let- 
ters, which were the work mainly of Samuel Adams. Among 
them was a Circular Letter to be signed by the Speaker of the 
House and transmitted to the other assemblies, notifying 
them of the votes of Massachusetts and suggesting concerted 
action, while disavowing any desire for independence. The 
fact that the Massachusetts leaders felt it necessary to assure 




Samuel Adams 



Massa- 
chusetts 
Circular 
Letter. 
Fiske's 
Revolution 
I. 47-50- 



126 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 129 



the other colonies that they were not aiming at independence 
alarmed the colonial secretary. He wrote to Governor 
Bernard of Massachusetts directing him to order the legislature 
of that province to rescind the letter ; and in a Circular Letter 
to the governors of the other provinces he commanded them 
to dissolve the assemblies of their respective colonies in case 
they should act in conformity with the invitation from Massa- 
chusetts. The House of Representatives of the latter prov- 




i-'X"^^^- 



The Hancock House 

ince, by an overwhelming majority, refused to rescind its 
letter, and the other assemblies grasped the first opportunity 
to make the cause of Massachusetts their own. 
^ 129. Seizure of the Liberty, 1768. — The new Board of 

_ _.. _ Commissioners of Customs (§ 127) established their head- 

Umtedstates, quarters at Boston, where there was the greatest need of 
"sice's w ^"P^'-^i^'O"' but where they were certain to be opposed in 
lution, I, ^he exercise of their duty. Presently arrived the sloop 
51-53. Liberty, owned by John Hancock, a rich Boston merchant 

and a very popular man. Charging that madeira wine had 



Seizure of 
the Liberty 
Channing's 



1769. 



1769] The Virginia Resolves of iy6g 127 

been landed from the vessel without the duty being paid, I 
the customs ofificers seized her. For security she was towed ] 
under the guns of the British frigate Romney, which was \ 
lying at anchor in the harbor. A riot occurred which fright- 
ened the commissioners; they fled to the fort in the harbor 
and wrote to England demanding soldiers and a larger 
naval force. Before this supplemental force could arrive, 
however, the Boston people, in town meeting, requested the 
governor to summon the assembly ; on his refusal, they 
summoned a convention of delegates from the several towns. 
It met but accomplished nothing except to provide a 
precedent for the Provincial Congress of a later day. 

130. The Virginia Resolves of 1769. — To the ever- The Virginia 
growing list of colonial grievances, there was now added a Resolves, 
threat which, had it been carried out, would have worked 
great injury to the colonists. In the days of Henry VIII, 
long before England had a colony or a colonist, Parliament 
had passed an act authorizing the trial, conviction, and 
punishment in England of an English subject accused of 
crimes committed outside the realm. The two houses 
of Parliament now prayed the king to cause colonists 
charged with treason to be brought to England for trial, in 
accordance with the provisions of this ancient statute. The 
Virginia leaders, ever alive to constitutional matters, were 
thoroughly converted to the opposition. Washington, one 
of the most influential and prosperous of their number, as 
well as one of the wisest, wrote : " No man should hesi- 
tate a moment to use arms in defence of so valuable a 
blessing [freedom]." The Virginia Assembly met on May 
II, 1769. Five days later, the burgesses unanimously 
adopted four resolves, asserting (i) that they, with the 
council and the king, or his representative, have " the sole 
right of imposing taxes on the inhabitants " of Virginia, (2) 
that the inhabitants of the several colonies have the right to 
petition for redress of grievances, and (3) that it is lawful for 
them to petition jointly with the people of other colonies. 
Coming now to the precise matter which had been the occa- 



128 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 131 



The colonists 
refuse to 
import 
British 
goods. 



Partial 
repeal of the 
Townshend 
Acts. Fiske's 
Revolution, I, 
60-63. 



sion of these resolves, the burgesses declared (4) that all 
trials for any crime whatsoever should be within the colony 
by known course of law, and asserted that the sending any 
suspected person beyond the seas for trial is " highly deroga- 
tory of the right of British subjects." The Speaker was 
directed to send copies of these resolves to the other assem- 
blies, and to request their concurrence therein. The 
governor at once dissolved the Virginia Assembly, but the 
popular branches of the other colonial assemblies generally 
adopted similar resolutions — some of them even used the 
words of the Virginia Resolves. 

131. Non-importation Agreements, 1769. — The dissolu- 
tion of the Virginia Assembly only hastened the crisis. 
The burgesses met in a neighboring house and signed an 
agreement binding themselves neither to use nor to import 
any goods on which a tax was levied by act of Parliament. 
This document had been drawn up by George Mason ; it was 
presented to the burgesses by George Washington, and among 
the signatures to it was that of Thomas Jefferson. The other 
colonies soon adopted similar agreements, and by the end 
of the year (1769) the non-importation policy was in full 
operation. The object of the colonists in "boycotting" 
certain goods, which were either the products of England 
or were imported through English mercantile houses, was 
to exert a pressure upon English merchants engaged in colo- 
nial trade, and through them to influence the government. 
This policy proved to be effectual ; the merchants petitioned 
for the repeal of the act, and the government acceded to 
their wishes. In point of fact, the Townshend duties, in- 
stead of producing a revenue, had proved to be a source of 
expense. Instead, however, of repealing them all, the gov- 
ernment retained the duty on tea to serve as a precedent for 
future parliamentary taxation of the colonists. The Navi- 
gation Acts and the trade laws still remained ; conflicts with 
the revenue officers became more frequent, and the colonists 
regarded with increasing dislike the British soldiers sta- 
tioned at New York and Boston. 



[77ol 



The Boston Massacre 



129 



132. The Boston Massacre, 1770. — While the govern- 
ment and Parliament were considering the question of repeal, 
a serious affray, known as the " Boston Massacre," greatly 
comphcated the situation (March, 1770), although tidings 
of the disturbance did not reach England until after 
the partial repeal of the Townshend duties (April, 1770). 
After the rioting consequent on the seizure of the Liberty 
two regiments of British soldiers were sent to Boston. It 
is difficult to conceive why they were sent, as two regiments 
could have offered slight resistance to the soldiery of Massa- 
chusetts, and their presence was certain to embitter the 
already strained relations between the colonists and the 
British authorities. Early in 1769, blood was shed in an at- 
tempt by a party from the Rose frigate to press men into 
the naval service ; and a short time after, a boy had been 
accidentally shot in the streets of Boston. On Saturday 
night, March 3, a party of soldiers, while off duty, engaged 
in a conflict with some workingmen returning from their 
labor. The next Monday, March 5, 1770, renewed conflict 
began with the soldiers, this time with those on duty on 
King, now State, Street. Before the matter ended, the main 
guard turned out and the mob was fired upon by the angry 
and frightened soldiers ; four citizens were killed and sev- 
eral wounded. It was evident to the leaders on both sides 
that a most serious crisis had arisen ; in the temper then 
prevailing, the soldiers must be removed or they would be 
slaughtered and a conflict with Great Britain precipitated, 
which was desired at that time by few colonists. 

At the head of a committee appointed in town meeting, 
Samuel Adams waited upon Hutchinson, then acting as 
governor in the absence of Bernard, and demanded the 
removal of the troops. Hutchinson offered to remove the 
regiment which had fired on the people. Adams reported 
this answer to the town meeting. He soon reappeared and 
said to Hutchinson : " If you can remove one, you can 
remove both ; there are three thousand people in yonder 
town meeting ; the country is rising ; the night is falling. 



British 
soldiers in 
Boston. 



The 

Massacre. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 66-72. 



Adams and 
Hutchinson. 
Contempora- 
ries, II, No. 
151- 



I30 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 



132 



and we must have our answer." Hutchinson promised to 
send them all out of the town, but it took another town 
meeting to secure their departure. The ofificers and men 
present at the time of the firing were arrested and tried on 
the charge of murder. They were defended by John Adams 
and Josiah Quincy, Jr., two patriots, who risked their popu- 




Faneuil Hall 



larity and influence that the soldiers might have the fullest 
justice done to them. All were acquitted on the charge of 
murder by a jury drawn from Boston and the neighborhood ; 
two of them, however, were found guilty of manslaughter 
and branded in the hand. Probably the issues underlying 
no other event in American history have been so misrepre- 
sented by friends and foes as those relating to this so-called 
"massacre." The colonists regarded the British army as 
existmg under British law and, therefore, they maintained 



1771] Local Committees of Correspondence 131 



that not a soldier could be constitutionally stationed in any 
colony without the consent of the colonial legislature. This 
theory was similar to that upon which the opposition to the 
Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts was based. From 
another point of view the "massacre" was important, as it 
showed the danger to the liberty of the subject incurred by 
the substitution of military for civil power. The event was 
therefore commemorated in Boston as a victory for freedom, 
until the adoption of 
the Declaration of In- 
dependence, on July 
4, 1776, gave the 
people of the whole 
country a day of gen- 
eral rejoicing. 

1 33. Local Commit- 
tees of Correspondence. 
— After the removal 
of the soldiers, affairs 
in Massachusetts as- 
sumed a quieter aspect 
than they had borne 
for years. Hutchinson 
chose this time of 
quiet to open a discus- 
sion with the House of Representatives as to the rights and 
duties of the colonists. He argued that the position assumed 
by the colonial leaders was unsound and asserted that they 
must either submit or become independent. Undoubtedly 
Hutchinson was right ; there was no constitutional mode of 
redress ; the colonists were face to face with the alternative 
of submission or rebellion and the latter might lead to revo- 
lution and independence. Samuel Adams saw at once the 
opportunity such a debate gave him to call attention to the 
real issues in controversy. He spread the discussion abroad 
throughout the whole province by means of town committees 
of correspondence. At the moment, Massachusetts seemed 




Thomas Hutchinson 



132 Intercolonial Union [§ 134 

to stand alone. An over-zealous naval officer, by the rigorous 
way in which he sought to enforce the navigation laws, brought 
on a crisis that ended in the formation of colonial committees 
of correspondence, — the second step in the formation of a 
complete revolutionary organization. 
Burning of 134- Colonial Committees of Correspondence. — The Gas- 

the Gaspec, pgg was an armed government vessel commanded by Lieuten- 
^^r's Untu'd ^"^ Dudingston of the royal navy. His duty was to patrol 
stales. III, Narragansett Bay and connecting waters with a view to the 
124- enforcement of the Navigation Acts. One day, while 

chasing a colonial vessel, the Gaspee ran aground and 
remained immovable on a narrow spit, which has since 
been called Gaspee Point. In the night men from Providence 
boarded her, seized the crew, and set the vessel on fire (1772). 
Instead of passing over the matter as a personal quarrel 
between Dudingston and the Providence men, the British 
government determined to avenge it as an insult to the 
British flag. A Commission of Inquiry was sent to Rhode 
Island to ferret out the perpetrators that they might be 
taken out of the colony for trial. The names of those who 
had a part in the affair were known to a thousand persons 
at least, but no one could be found to inform the com- 
missioners against them. The commissioners abandoned 
the inquiry and reported their failure to the government. 
Colonial The Virginia Assembly was in session when the news of the 

Committees appointment of this conmiission reached the Old Dominion. 

ofCorre- ^^ 

spondence, ^ow, as m 1 769 (§ 130), the burgesses showed themselves 
1773- peculiarly alive to any action which looked toward the 

breaking down of the constitutional safeguards of the liberty 
of the colonists. Under the leadership of Patrick Henry 
and Thomas Jefferson, a permanent Committee of Corre- 
spondence was appointed to inform themselves particularly 
of the facts as to the Gaspee Commission, and " to maintain a 
correspondence with our sister colonies." Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and South 
Carolina appointed similar committees. Foi; the moment the 
other colonies took no action. The machinery for revolu- 



1772] Colonial Union 133 

tionary organization had been discovered, however, and before 
long the action of the British government as to the tea duty- 
forced all the colonies into line. 

135. Colonial Union. — The Enghsh East India Company The English 
was now in severe financial straits, owing to the wars it was ^^^^"^'^ 
compelled to wage in India, to the extravagance with which 
the government of that country was administered, to the 



Company 



i?? ""■ 



II 



CARD. I 

J rr^HE PUBLIC prefent their Compliments to Meflicurs 

y JL JAMES AND DRINKER.— -We are informed that you 

I }i»ve this Day received your CommiJTion to cnflave your native 

j Country, and, as your frivolous Plea of having received r\o 

; Advice, rdaCive to the fcandalous Part you were to aA, in the 

* Tea-Scheme, can rto longer ferve your Purpofe, nor divert our 

I Attention, we «xpe<ft and defire you will immediately inform 

I 'the PvBLtc, by a Line or two to be left at theComx Houss, 

I "Whether tcoo will, or will not, renounce all PretenfioriS to 

i execute that Commiflion? — -that WE may gov£rn our- 

I SELVES ACCOHDIItaiY. 

» 

i PbHaidjbidy December a, 1773. 

>^o >^' ■ ■■ ■■ — »*== <> % 

A Tea Handbill 

heavy payments it was obliged to make to its shareholders 
and to the English government, and to the heavy duties 
levied in England on goods produced in India. The Dutch 
East India Company was able to undersell its rival, and 
some of the tea consumed in the colonies was smuggled in 
from the Netherlands. The English duties on tea amounted 
to about seventy-five per cent. To help the East India Com- 
pany, these duties were remitted on all tea exported to Ire- 
land and America. This was done by one of the Townshend 
Acts, which also levied a new duty of three pence per pound 



134 



Intercolonial Union 



[§136 



The Boston 
Tea Party. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 82-93; 
Old South 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser. No. 68. 



Massa- 
chusetts 
punished. 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I. 93-97- 



on all tea landed in the colonies (1767)- But this policy 
was not successful, as the East India Company was obliged 
to make good any deficiency in the revenue that might re- 
sult. It was now proposed to allow the Company to export 
tea to the colonies without any conditions except the duty of 
three pence, which would still be collected in the colonies. 
Some one suggested that the easiest way to avoid any con- 
flict with the colonists would be for the company to pay 
the latter tax in England and add the amount to the price 
of the tea ; but the government was immovable on that 
point. The colonists refused to have anything to do with 
the tea that was thus forced upon them, although they would 
be able to buy it cheaper than the people in England. The 
vessels bearing tea to Philadelphia and New York were 
allowed by the authorities to leave port without landing their 
cargoes. At Charleston the tea was stored until 1776, when 
it was sold by the Carolinians. At Boston the customs 
authorities, with the support of Governor Hutchinson, re- 
fused to permit the tea vessels to clear outwards unless the 
tea were first landed. The rules of the customs service pre- 
scribed that goods which were not landed, and on which duties 
were not paid within a certain time, should be seized by the 
collector and sold to the highest bidder. The Massachusetts 
men were determined that the tea should not be placed on 
the market, and it was thrown into Boston harbor by a mob. 
Not only did this attempt to bribe the colonists into a sur- 
render of their rights fail, but six more colonies appointed 
Committees of Correspondence. Pennsylvania alone held 
back ; with that exception the colonial union was complete. 
136. Repressive Acts, 1774. — The determined attitude 
of the colonists greatly incensed the governing classes in 
Great Britain, and they decided to punish the turbulent 
people of Boston and Massachusetts. With this end in 
view. Parliament passed four acts: (i) closing the port of 
Boston to commerce ; (2) suspending the operation of the 
charter of Massachusetts ;• (3) providing for the trial outside 
of the colony of persons (soldiers and others) who might be 



1774] 



Repressive Laws 



135 



charged with crime committed while quelling riots within 
the colony ; and (4) providing for the quartering of British 
troops within the province. At about the same time Parlia- 
ment also passed an act, known as the Quebec Act, which 
extended the boundaries of that province to the Ohio River 
and established an arbitrary form of government within it. 
The rights of holders of grants from the crown were ex- 
pressly reserved to them in the act, and it is probable that 
the claims of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania 
to lands within the new province would have been recog- 
nized. The measure had been long in preparation, and its 
passage at the present crisis had no relation to the dispute 
with the colonies south of the St. Lawrence. It was inevi- 
table, however, in the excited condition of the colonists' 
minds, that they should regard the Quebec Act as aimed; 
against themselves ; they saw in it a disposition on the part-, 
of the British government to limit the further extension ( 
westward of the self-governing colonies. This was a matter*" 
which appealed to them all, and was the one thing required, 
if anything were needed, to unite them against the encroach- 
ments of the British government. The repressive acts dealt 
for the moment with Massachusetts alone ; but it was clear 
that if Parliament could overthrow the constitution of one 
colony, it could of all, and the interests of all the colonists 
were really involved. Soon their sympathy was aroused by 
the sufferings of the people of Boston. New York and 
Rhode Island proposed that a general congress should be 
held ; the Virginia burgesses appointed a day of fasting, 
and upon being dissolved for this action, they formed 
themselves into a convention, appointed a revolutionary 
Committee of Correspondence, advocated the holding of 
annual intercolonial congresses, and voted that " an attack 
upon one colony was an attack upon all British America." 
The actual call for the congress, however, came from Massa- 
chusetts (June 17, 1774). 

137. The First Continental Congress, 1774, — Delegates 
to this meeting were chosen by all the colonies save Geor- 



The Quebec 
Act, 1774. 
Hinsdale's 
Old North- 
west, 141. 



Call of the 

Continental 

Congress. 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, lOO-IIO. 



136 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 137 



Jefferson's 

" Summary 

View," 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. II. 



Members 
of the first 
Congress. 



gia, — in some cases by the colonial assembly, as in Massa- 
chusetts, in others by conventions, as in Virginia ; in a few- 
colonies, where no such bodies were in session or could be 
summoned, the delegates were chosen by the Committees 
of Correspondence or by the people of the several towns 
and counties. In New York and Pennsylvania, the moder- 
ates and conservatives, or Tories, as they were called, 
obtained control ; in the other colonies, the radicals usually 
carried the day. 

The most important document called forth by the contest 
over these elections was Thomas Jefferson's Summary View 
of the Rights of British America, which was first drawn up 
in the form of Instructions to the Virginia Delegates ; but it 
was too outspoken for the members of the Virginia conven- 
tion, and was not adopted. In this essay, Jefferson boldly 
denied the existence of a legislative union between the 
colonies and Great Britain, and utterly refused to admit 
the legislative supremacy of the British Parliament, even 
as to external trade. On the other hand, he declared that 
the union was simply through the crown, as the union be- 
tween England and Scotland of the seventeenth century. 
He enumerated many acts of injustice on the part of the 
British king and urged the appointment of an American 
secretary for the colonies. 

The congress met at Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. 
Franklin was still in England, and Jefferson was not selected 
as a delegate by the Virginia convention. With those 
exceptions, all the ablest men then in political life were 
present. From Massachusetts came the two Adamses, 
Samuel, the first American politician, and John, the keen 
constitutional lawyer. Rhode Island sent her venerable 
judge, Stephen Hopkins, and Connecticut was represented 
by Roger Sherman, whose long services in Congress have 
given him an honored place in American history. John Jay, 
the first Chief Justice of the United States, came from New 
York, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania, and John Rutledge 
from South Carolina. Virginia was represented by a re- 



i774] 



The Continental Congress 



137 



markable group of men : George Washington, whose sound 
judgment and soHd information made him the foremost 
member of the congress, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry 
Lee, and Peyton Randolph. 

The congress adopted a Declaration of Rights which was 
not much more radical in tone than that of the Stamp Act 
Congress, and was much milder than the one advocated by 
Jefferson in the Summary Vmu. The more important 
work of this congress was the establishment of the Ameri- 
can Association, designed to secure the enforcement of a 
general non-importation and non-consumption agreement. 
The execution of this policy was no longer to be left to 
chance : the congress recommended the election of a 
committee by the county, town, or other local administrative 
unit in each colony, which should oversee the carrying out 
of non-intercourse with Great Britain. These local com- 
mittees were to be supervised by the colonial Committees 
of Correspondence ; the names of all offenders against the 
agreement should be published ; and any colony which de- 
chned to enter the association should be regarded as hostile 
to " the liberties of this country," and denied all intercourse 
with the members of the association. In this manner, by 
the union of local and colonial committees under the leader- 
ship of continental congresses, a political organization was 
formed so perfect that it controlled the actions of indi- 
viduals in all walks of life. Congress adjourned in October, 
after providing for the assembling of a new congress in 
May, 1775, unless the grievances of the colonists were re- 
dressed before that time. 

138. More Repressive Measures, 1774, i775- — An elec- 
tion for members of a new Parliament was held throughout 
Great Britain towards the end of 1774. The electors, by 
returning an overwhelming majority for the government, 
showed that they agreed fully with the king and his minis- 
ters in their desire to compel the colonists to obey acts of 
Parliament. The government at once introduced several 
bills to carry out their policy of repression. These were 



The Decla- 
ration of 
Rights. 



The English 
declare 
Massa- 
chusetts 
to be in 
rebellion. 



138 



Intercolonial Union 



[§ 



S I3Q 



Gage at 
Boston. 



Massa- 
chusetts 
Provincial 
Congress. 



rapidly passed by both houses and became law. By them 
the New England colonists were cut off from all trade except 
with Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, and the con- 
tinental colonies of New York, North Carolina, and Georgia; 
for these last seemed to be more submissive than the others. 
Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion, 
and measures were at once taken to put down the insurrec- 
tion by force. To this policy, the opposition in the House 
of Commons, led by Burke and Charles James Fox, offered 
stout resistance, but their espousal of the colonial cause only 
deepened the hostility of the king. Chatham's proposals 
for a more conciliatory policy were set aside with contempt. 
Instead, Lord North, who was now at the head of the gov- 
ernment, suggested that Parliament would not tax the colo- 
nists provided they would tax themselves to the satisfaction 
of Parliament, — a proposition which Burke rightly char- 
acterized as offering them " the very grievance for the 
remedy." 

139. Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775. — Meantime, 
in Massachusetts, affairs had come to a crisis. The govern- 
ment .of that province, under the new order of things, had 
been confided to General Gage, the commander in chief of 
the British army in America, and he had come to Boston at 
the head of a small force of troops. In September (1774) 
he summoned the General Court to meet at Salem, the new 
capital of the province, in the following October, but after- 
wards put off its assembling, as affairs had taken on a very 
threatening aspect. The representatives, however, met at 
the appointed time, formed themselves into a Provincial 
Congress, adjourned to Cambridge, and assumed the gov- 
ernment of the province outside of Boston and other terri- 
tory controlled by the soldiers. They appointed a receiver- 
general and advised the town officials to pay their propor- 
tions of the public taxes to him and not to Gage's treasurer. 
The Provincial Congress also began the reorganization of 
the mihtary forces of the colony, and appointed a Commit- 
tee of Safety, which, with other committees, performed the 



1775] 



Lexington and Concord 



139 



administrative functions. The theory under which the 
radical leaders thus assumed the government was that as 
Parliament had no constitutional power to suspend the oper- 
ation of the charter, the government ^t up under the sus- 
pending act was in itself illegal. The charter, according to 
this idea, was still in force, and as Gage, the king's represen- 
tative, would not govern according to its provisions, the 
people of the colony must provide for their own welfare. 

Gage, on his part, found himself almost powerless in 
Boston, — the people would not work for him, and the 
farmers of the neighboring country would not sell him sup- 
plies for his soldiers. Moreover, throughout the province, 
everywhere drilling and arming were in progress. He de- 
termined to disarm the people. His first attempt to seize 
stores at Salem ended in a ridiculous failure, but no blood 
was shed. On the night of the i8th of April, he detached 
a large body of men to seize stores which were said to be 
concealed at Concord. The march of the troops was to be 
secret, but fearless riders carried the news of the soldiers' 
coming to Lexington and to Concord. On the morning of 
the 19th of April, when the British soldiers reached Lexing- 
ton, a small body of militiamen was seen drawn up on the 
town common. They dispersed when the size of the British 
column was apparent. Some one fired, whether American 
or Briton will never be known. Several volleys followed ; a 
few Americans were killed and others wounded. 

The soldiers pressed on to Concord, to find that most 
of the supplies had been removed ; there, a skirmish 
occurred with the militiamen, and the homeward march 
was one continuous conflict. The colonists pursued the 
retreating soldiers until the guns of the men-of-war an- 
chored off Charlestown gave them protection ; the provin- 
cials then withdrew and, instead of seeking their homes, 
encamped for the night at Cambridge, and began the 
blockade or siege of Boston. 



Lexington 
and Con- 
cord, April 

19. 1775- 
Fiske's 
Revolution. 
I, 120-128; 
Old South 
Leaflets, I, 
No. 3. 



i^o Intercolonial Union 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 113-116. England's Colonial Policy 

a. What is a "bounty" ? Just how is it paid ? In the history of 
the United States what bounties have been paid ? 

b. Look up the subject of "general warrants" in English history. 
Get a warrant from your town officials, and note its exactness of 
description. What is the provision of the Constitution as to general 
warrants ? What of the constitution of your state ? 

§§ 117, 1x8. American Political Theories 

a. Read Locke's Second Essay on Government, Note its funda- 
mental ideas; watch for their enunciation in American political docu- 
ments. 

b. What is the fundamental argument of both Otis and Henry ? 

§§ 1 19-123. American and British Theories 

a. Was Granville's contention — that the colonists should obey 
Acts of Parliament and pay a portion of the expense incurred in their 
defense — intrinsically just? Give your reasons. 

b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a stamp duty ? 
Why should we not have such a tax to-day? 

c. Why has trial by jury been called " the most democratical of 
judicial institutions" ? Give arguments for and against it. Ask some 
friend of yours, who is a lawyer, to explain it to you. 

d. Requirement of residence for elector and for representative. 
Give the arguments for and against this requirement. How is the 
matter arranged in the Constitution? in the constitution of your own 
state ? What is the practice in your own city or town or district ? 

§§ 124-126. The Stamp Act 

a. Under what heading in your note-book should the " Declaration 
of Rights " be entered, and why ? State the five principles it enunci- 
ates. 

b. State at length and compare the leading points in Pitt's and 
Mansfield's speeches; in Grenville's and Camden's. 

§§ 127-134. The Townshend Acts 

a. Enumerate the Townshend Acts, and state what principle of 
government each one violated. 

b. Why did these Acts bear most heavily upon New England ? 

c. What was the first step in the formation of a complete revolution- 
ary organization ? the second step? the third step ? the fourth step ? 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 141 

§§ i35~i39- Colonial Union and Rebellion 

a. Were the acts of 1774 " illegal" ? Precisely what is meant by 
" illegal " ? Why was the first act declared by Burke to be unjust ? 
The second act has been called the most serious of all the grievances 
which led to the Revolution; why ? 

i. Compare the Stamp Act Congress, the First Continental Con- 
gress, and the Second Continental Congress. Had any of these bod- 
ies any legal standing ? Prove your answer. 

c. Compare the " American Association " with associations of the 
present day; e.g. of Railway Employees. 

Historical Geography 

Represent in colors upon your Map of the Proclamation of 1763 the 
boundaries of Quebec under the Act of 1774, and make any necessary 
change in the map of your state. 

General Questions 

a. Collect from this and the preceding chapter examples of the 
irritating effect of the Navigation Acts. 

l>. State the several steps towards colonial union which you have so 
far met, and note in each the strengtii or weakness of the federal tie. 

c. What was the fundamental cause of the separation of the colo- 
nies from the British Empire? 

d. Collect in separate lists all the examples of the four different 
means of resistance used by the colonists, — protests, riots, non-impor- 
tation, congresses. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See directions under this head at end of Chapter I.) 

a. Where was the first shot fired that " was heard around the world " ? 
Was it a British or an American shot ? Sources, Guide, 302. 

b. Compare Jefferson's Summary Vierv and the Declaration of In- 
dependence (§ 148). 

c. Destruction of the Gaspee. Sources, Guide, Tpo. 

d. The Boston Massacre (§ 132). 

e. Compare account of early life of Patrick Henry in Wirt's Henry 
and in Tyler's Henry. 



CHAPTER V 

INDEPENDENCE, 1 775-1 783 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Lodge's ^«^/w// Co/om'es, 492-^21 ; Higgin- 
son's Larger History, 249-293 ; Fiske's War of Independence, 86-193 
and Civil Government, 1 61-180. 

Special Accounts. — Channing's United States, III, chs. vii-xii ; 
Frothingham's Kise of the Republic ; Winsor's America, VI, VII ; 
Y'lskt's American Revolutioft ; G'cee.'n&'s Historical View; *Bancroft's 
United States ; Fisher's Struggle for Independence ; *Lecky's England, 
IV, chs. xiv, XV ; *Mahon's England ; C-arrington's Battles of the 
American Revolution ; Hosmer's Samuel Adams ; ^lorse's John Adams ; 
Bigelow's Franklin; Lodge's Washington ; Pellew's Jay; Sumner's 
Robert Morris; Schouler's Jefferson; Lowell's Hessians; Greene's 
German Element; "Winsor's Memorial History of Boston ; Allen's 
Naval History of the Atnerican Revolution ; Larned's History for 
Ready Reference, under United States and the several states. 

Sources. — Biographies and writings of Samuel Adams, John Adams, 
Burgoyne, Dickinson, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Henry, Jay, Jeffer- 
son, Lafayette, R. LI. Lee, Pickering, Shelburne, and Washington, see 
Guide, §§ 151, 39, 46, 47; Annual Register; Chandler's American 
Criminal Trials ; Sparks's Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolu- 
tion ; Wharton's Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence ; Hart's 
Contemporaries, II ; Donne's Correspondence of George III and 
Lord North; Journals of Congress; Secret Journals of Congress; 
Force's American Archives ; Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of 
American Literature; l>i\\&%\ Principles and Acts of the Revolution ; 
American History Leaflets ; MacDonald's Docufnents. 

Maps. — Mac Coun's Historical Geography; Carrington's Battles; 
Winsor's America; Lowell's Hessians ; Hart's Epoch Maps, No. 6. 
Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 153-157, 

Illustrative Material. — Roosevelt's Winning of the West, II ; 
Longfellow's Paul Revere" s Ride ; Holmes's Grandmother's Story of 
Bunker Hill; Mrs. Child's The Rebels; Eggleston's Atnerican War 

142 



1775] 



Material Prosperity 



143 



Ballads; Moore's Ballads of the American Revolution ; Sargent's 
Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution ; Campell's Gertrude of Wyoming ; 
Dunlap's /^«^/;'^/ Freneau's /l^^wf / Hopkinson's Battle of the Kegs; 
Cooke's Bonnybel Vane ; Cooper's Lionel Lincoln (Bunker Hill), 
The Pilot, The Spy; Bret Harte's Thankful Blossom; Cooke's 
Virginia; Hawthorne's Septimius Felton ; Kennedy's Horseshoe 
Robinson ; Paulding's The Old Continental ; Roe's Near to Nature'' s 
Heart; Simms's The Partisan, Mellichampe, The Scout, /Catharine 
Walton, The Foragers, Eutaw ; Parton's Franklin and Jefferson; 
Lossing's Field- Book of Hie Revolution ; *Parker's Historic Americans ; 
Burke's Speeches on Conciliation zvith America ; *Jones's Neiu York 
in the Revolutionary War; *Lossing's Life of Schuyler ; *Rush's 
Washington in Domestic Life ; StiWe^s Beaumarchais ; HzAe^s Frank- 
lin in France ; Sahine's Loyalists ; Tyler's Literature of the Revolution ; 
Sullivan's Public Men of the Revolution ; Bynner's Agnes Surriage ; 
Brackenridge's i?M«^^;- Hill; Harold Frederic's /w the Valley; Alt- 
sheler's Sun of Saratoga. 



INDEPENDENCE, 1 775-1 783 

140. Material Prosperity, 1775. — Notwithstanding the Growth of 
controversies and conflicts described in the last chapter, *'^'^ colonies 
the years 1760 to 1775 marked a period of great material 
development. The population of the colonies increased 
from about sixteen hundred thousand in 1760 to about 
twenty-five hundred thousand in 1775. Trade and com- 
merce had thriven ; for, although the navigation laws and 
the acts of trade would have borne harshly on the mercan- 
tile colonies, had they been enforced, the injury they 
inflicted was trifling, as they were never carried out. On 
the other hand, some industries, as the making of indigo, 
were stimulated by premiums and bounties paid by the 
British government. 

The laws designed to cramp colonial manufacturing pre- 
vented the growth of industry and worked great hardship. 
Among the last of these laws was one which prohibited the 
export of any machinery or patterns of machinery from 
England (1770). The aim of this enactment was to pre- 
vent the establishment of textile industries in the colonies. 
Combined with the prohibition of the manufacture of wool 



Restrictions 
on manu- 
factuiing. 



144 



Independence 



[§ 141 



and iron, this act showed a determination on the part of 
England's rulers to restrict the colonists to agriculture and 
commercial pursuits. Notwithstanding these prohibitions 
and restrictions, the colonies were practically self-sustaining 
in 1775 although the interruption of foreign trade deprived 
them of articles of everyday use which were not actually 
necessary to existence and yet cannot be regarded as 
luxuries. 

141. Advantages of the Colonists. — The colonists were 
greatly inferior in numbers and in resources to the people 
of Great Britain. That they were able to limit the British 
to the occupation of a few seaboard towns, and finally to 
achieve their independence, was due (i) to the defective 
strategy of the British, (2) to the aid given by the French, 
and (3) to the nature of the field of operations. As to the 
first of these, it is not necessary to say much. The British 
commanders were generally men of second-rate abilities. 
The distance of the field of operations from the base of sup- 
plies added greatly to the expense of the British campaigns, 
for everything from food for the soldiers to hay for the 
horses had to be brought from England. Without the aid 
given by the French, at first in the form of war materials, 
and later in the shape of liberal contributions of money, 
a splendid army, and a formidable naval force, the war cer- 
tainly would not have been brought to a successful termina- 
tion. The geographical features of the country east of the 
Alleghany Mountains greatly assisted the successful resist- 
ance of the colonists. From north to south, the theater 
of war measured more than a thousand miles in extent, 
but from east to west the distance was very much less : 
in some regions it was not a hundred miles wide. When 
hard pressed, the colonial armies were nearly always able 
to retire to inaccessible hilly regions, where pursuit was 
dangerous, if not impossible. The long, thin fringe of the 
continent was intersected by large and deep rivers and by 
arms of the sea : there were a dozen fields of operation 
in place of one. For instance, the Hudson River, with 



1775] Advantages of the Colonists 145 

Lake Champlain, divided New England from the rest of 
the continent (§ 6) ; the Mohawk separated the Hudson 
valley into two distinct parts ; Delaware and Chesapeake 
bays and the rivers of Virginia (§347) made a campaign 
of invasion south of the Hudson a matter of great difficulty ; 
and the Carolinas were cut up into several geographical 
districts by marshes, by large regions of sandy, sparsely 




Joseph Warren 
(Killed at Bunker Hill) 

settled country, and by long deep rivers extremely subject 
to floods. Portions of this territory were still hardly better 
than a wilderness : good roads, suitable for the movement 
of army trains and artillery, were to be found only in the 
vicinity of the larger towns ; and even these were impas- 
sable during a large portion of each year. On the other 
hand, good harbors everywhere abounded and made the 
business of the privateer and the blockade runner peculiarly 
easy. 

L . 



146 



Independence 



[§ 142 



142. Bunker Hill, i775- — The siege or blockade of 
Boston lasted for almost eleven months, from April 19, 
1775, to March 17, 1776. During those months, a force 
drawn from all the New England colonies, and, after July, 
1775, from the other colonies as well, blockaded the British 
array. In all this time there was but one action deserving 
the name of battle, — the battle of Bunker Hill. On June 
16, reports reached the colonial headquarters that the 
British commander intended to seize Dorchester Heights. 
To divert him from the execution of this plan, the Com- 
mittee of Safety ordered the seizure of Bunker Hill. On 
the night of the i6th, Colonel Prescott occupied Breed's 
Hill, which was nearer Boston. When day dawned, he must 
have seen that his position was untenable : there were no 
batteries on the mainland to guard the neck leading to 
Charlestovvn. It was possible, therefore, for Gage to station 
vessels in the Charles and Mystic rivers and concentrate 
such a fire on the isthmus that no one could cross it ; the 
British could then occupy Bunker Hill and hold the force 
in the redoubt at their mercy. On the morning of the 17th, 

Stark and his men from New Hamp- 
f^"'^*-^ -/Y^^A^-'y^ shire hastened to Prescott's succor. 

Under Gage's orders, five thousand 
British soldiers, commanded by Howe, Clinton, and Pigott, 
attacked the Americans in front ; they were, twice beaten 
back, and only the failure of the American ammunition 
made their third assault a success. The British loss on that 
day was from one thousand to fifteen hundred men ; that 
of the colonists was about four hundred. The Americans 
were beaten, although they were not captured to a man, 
as they should have been. Seldom has a defeat proved so 
inspiriting to the vanquished and so disheartening to the 
victors. 

143. Evacuation of Boston, 1776. — Meantime, the Sec- 
ond Continental Congress had met at Philadelphia in May 
(1775), had adopted the army blockading Boston as a 
national force, and had given it a commander, — Colonel 




George Washington, 1772 
After a painting by C- W- Peale — the earliest known portrait of Washington 



148 



Independence 



[§ 144 



Continental 
Congress 
assumes 
charge of 
war. Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 132-136; 
*Frothing- 
ham's Re- 
public, 419- 
431- 



Fiske's 

Revolution, 

129-132. 



Invasion of 
Canada. 
Winsor's 
America, VI, 
, 160-167 ; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 164-169. 

Change of 
sentiment 
in regard to 
independ- 
ence, 
1775-76. 



George Washington of Virginia. He assumed direction 
of the military operations on July 3, 1775, and at once 
found that he Ifad a most disheartening task before him. 
A full understanding of the difficulties which beset him can 
best be learned from his correspondence : his army, based 
on short terms of enlistment, constantly changed in number 
and personnel ; he had no heavy guns suited to siege opera- 
tions, and for weeks at a time had no powder, save what 
the men had in their pouches. Washington was obliged to 
present a bold front to the enemy, but was unable to under- 
take any active movement or to explain the reasons for his 
inaction. In the winter of 1775-76, heavy guns, which had 
been captured in May, 1775, at Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point, by men from western New England, were drawn over 
the snow to his lines, and the capture of a British vessel pro- 
vided the necessary powder. Now, at last, Washington was 
able to assume the offensive. In March, 1776, he seized 
and held Dorchester Heights. The town and harbor of 
Boston could no longer be held by the British, and on 
March 17 they evacuated the town, and shortly after left 
the harbor. 

Meantime two columns, led by Richard Montgomery 
and Benedict Arnold, had invaded Canada. Montgomery 
perished gallantly under the walls of Quebec. The rem- 
nants of these forces were rescued with the greatest diffi- 
culty in the spring and summer of 1776. 

144. Growth towards Independence, 1775, 1776. — In 
1776, Washington wrote, "When I took command of the 
army [July, 1775], I abhorred the idea of independence; 
now, I am convinced, nothing else will save us." There is 
every reason to believe that Washington's feelings on this 
subject were those of a large portion of his countrymen. 
Between July, 1775, and May, 1776, there was a great re- 
vulsion of feeling against the further continuance of the 
union with Great Britain. This change in the sentiments of 
thousands of colonists can be traced dieectly to a few lead- 
ing causes : (i) the contemptuous refusal by George HI of 



[776] 



TJie State Constitutions 



149 



the " Olive Branch " petition ; (2) the formation of the state 
governments ; (3) the estabUshment -of a national organiza- 
tion ; (4) the arguments embodied in the writings of Thomas 
Paine; and (5) the employment of the "Hessian" soldiers 
by the British government. 

In 1775, Thomas Jefferson succeeded Washington as a 
member of the Virginia delegation. It is not probable that 
he at once exerted much influence in Congress ; but the 
petition which that body addressed to the king in July, 
1775, was much bolder in tone than the preceding petition. 
Congress now demanded the repeal of "such statutes as 
more immediately distress any of your Majesty's Colonies." 
The king refused even to return a formal answer to this 
" Olive Branch " petition, as the colonists regarded it ; in- 
stead he issued a proclamation denouncing the colonists as 
" dangerous and ill-designing men . . . who had at length 
proceeded to an open and avowed rebellion." As to the 
effect of this proclamation on the public mind, John Jay 
wrote, " Until after the rejection of the second petition of 
Congress in 1775, 1 never heard an American of any class or 
of any description express a wish for the independence of the 
colonies." 

145. The State Constitutions, 1775, 1776. — Another im- 
portant step in bringing about the change in sentiment noted 
in the preceding section was the necessity for making new 
provisions for government in the several colonies. In some 
cases, as in Virginia and New Hampshire, the departure of 
the royal governors left the people without any government ; 
in other cases, as in Massachusetts, resistance to the royal 
authorities made new arrangements necessary. In the last- 
named colony, a revolutionary body termed the Provincial 
Congress had assumed charge of the government of the 
province. The people, however, were restless, and those 
in power turned to the Continental Congress for advice. 
On June 9, 1775, that body voted that as no obedience 
was due to the act "of Parliament altering the charter of the 
colony of Massachusetts, nor to a governor who would not 



Jefferson in 
Congress. 



The " Olive 

Branch 

Petition," 

1775- 
Frothing- 
ham's I\'e- 
public, 435, 
444-447, 451. 

Effect of 
the king's 
answer. 



Changes 
in local 
government. 



15° 



Independence 



[§ 145 



govern according to the charter, he should be considered as 
absent and the colonists advised to proceed under the charter 
without a governor "until a governor of his Majesty's ap- 
pointment will consent to govern the colony according to 
the charter." The condition of affairs in New Hampshire 
was different, as that province had no charter to fall back 
upon : Congress therefore voted in her case (November, 
1775), "That it be recommended to the provincial conven- 
tion of New Hampshire to call a full and free representation 
of the people . . . [to] establish such a form of government 
as in their judgment will best produce the happiness of the 
people, and mos.t effectually secure peace and good order in 
that province, during the continuance of the present dispute 
between Great Britain and the colonies." Both Massachu- 
setts and New Hampshire proceeded in accordance with the 
advice of Congress. It will -be noticed that Congress in 
these votes provided only for a temporary arrangement and 
evinced no desire for independence. 

By May of the next year, the temper of Congress and of 
the people had undergone a radical change. On May 15 
(1776) Congress recommended "the respective assemblies 
and conventions of the United Colonies, where no govern- 
ment sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath been 
hitherto established, to adopt such a government as shall 
in the opinion of the representatives of the people best 
conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents 
in particular, and of America in general." Among the 
first colonies to act under this suggestion was Virginia, 
which was at the moment governed by a convention elected 
by the people. It adopted (June, 1776) a constitution 
which consisted of three parts : a Bill of Rights by George 
Mason, a Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jef- 
ferson, and a Frame of Government. The first of these 
contains an admirable exposition of the American theory 
of government, equaled in that respect only by the Decla- 
ration of Independence of July, 1776, and by the Bill of 
Rights drawn by John Adams and prefixed to the Massa- 



1776] Organization of a General Government 151 



chusetts constitution of 1 7S0. The clause in the Virginia 
Bill of Rights declaring for freedom of religion was the 
earliest enunciation on that subject during the Revolution- 
ary era. None of these early constitutions was submitted 
to the people for ratification, with the exception of that 
of Massachusetts (1780), which was also drafted by a body 
especially chosen by the people for that purpose. The 
South Carolina constitution, on the other hand, was merely 
an act of the legislative body. Connecticut and Rhode 
Island proceeded under their seventeenth-century charters, 
with scarcely any changes at all. 

146. Organization of a General Government. — Still an- 
other thing which turned the thoughts of the colonists in 
the direction of independence was the establishment of 
a general government. The First Continental Congress 
(1774) resembled the Stamp Act Congress (1765) in being 
simply an advisory body. The Second Continental Con- 
gress was at first an advisory body ; but the march of events 
speedily compelled it to assume and exercise sovereign 
powers: in June, 1775, it took charge of the general 
defense of the colonies, set on foot an army, and drew 
up regulations for its government ; it established " a Com- 
mittee of Correspondence with our friends abroad " (No- 
vember, 1775), and from that time assumed the exclusive 
management of foreign affairs ; it also issued paper money 
to provide for the payment of the soldiers and for supplying 
the army with provisions. In fine, it exercised in the 
colonies functions which, up to that time, had been per- 
formed by the British government. 

The attention of the people was especially directed 
toward the subject of independence by the arguments set 
forth by Thomas Paine in a remarkable pamphlet entitled 
Common Sense. In this paper, he maintained in simple 
and convincing language that reason dictated independence, 
because it was improbable that foreign nations would inter- 
vene on the side of the colonists so long as they continued 
to acknowledge allegiance to the king of Great Britain. 



Authority of 
the Conti- 
nental 
Congress. 



Thomas 
Paine 's 
writings. 

Fiske's 
Revolution, 

I, 173; Con- 
temporaries, 

II, No. 186. 



jt2 Independence [§ 147 

Many people were still lukewarm on this matter, when the 
announcement reached America that the British govern- 
ment was preparing to employ foreign soldiers to crush 
resistance in the colonies. 
The Hes- 147- The Hessians. — In the long category of grievances 

sians. which forms so striking a feature of the Declaration of Inde- 

T H E 



AMERICAN CRISIS. 

Number I. 
Br TffE Author of COMMON SENSE^ 



THESE are the times that \xj men's foots ; The 
funitner foldisr and the Cuufl»ioe patriot will; in ibis 
crifis iljriuU i'xom xUr- fervicc ol bi«>coiu.t'y : hui l»e 
that aan«ls it ncto^dtferves <hc love and ihanks of 
(Reprinted in ad South Leaflets, IV. No. 4) 

Winsor's pendence, is the " transporting [of large] armies of foreign 
mercenaries to overwhelm the colonial forces. It was 
not exactly fair to call them mercenaries, as it was not 
the soldiers who sold their services to a foreign government, 
but their princely masters, for whom, indeed, the word 
" mercenary " is far too mild, ^f hese German veterans 
were hired by the British government from the Landgrave 
of Hesse-Cassel and other German princes. The terms of 
the contracts for the hiring of the men were peculiar, one 



America 
VII, 18-24. 



1776] The Hessians 153 

of them making it more profitable for the soldiers to be 
killed in America than to return home wounded. In all, 
they numbered about thirty thousand, eighteen thousand of 
whom arrived in 1776, mostly from Hesse-Cassel ; for this 
reason they were generally known as Hessians. To the 
British authorities there seemed nothing peculiar in 
employing them : the British king was a German prince, 
although he himself had been born in England ; in the 
continental wars in which Great Britain had borne a part 
in the preceding half century, it had always been custom- 
ary to hire German troops. The only difference between 
the two cases was that there the soldiers were employed 
to fight against their own flesh and blood, sometimes sol- 
diers from the same state being loaned to both sides ; now, 
however, they were used by the British government to kill 
English people who happened to live beyond the ocean. 
This difference, however, was a great one and the opposition 
in Parliament endeavored to convince the government of the 
danger of employing them, but in vain : the acquisition of a 
body of splendid troops at a low rate was viewed by the 
mass of Englishmen with rejoicing. They were good sol- 
diers, better suited perhaps to the cultivated lands of 
Europe than to the wilderness of America, but they ren- 
dered good service from a military point of view. From 
a poHtical point of view, however, their employment was a 
terrible blunder. Thousands of colonists who had hesitated 
about consenting to independence were now convinced of 
the necessity of that measure ; tens of thousands were con- 
verted to the necessity of the policy which culminated in 
the French Alliance : the king had called the Germans to 
his aid, why should not the colonists accept the help prof- 
fered by their ancient enemies, the French? In short, 
by June, 1776, the radical party in the colonies was pre- 
pared to advocate separation from the home land. 

148. The Declaration of Independence. — The Virginia Lee's 
convention took the lead in this movement and (May, 1776) Resolutions. 
instructed its delegates in Congress to propose a declaration J""*^' ^7 • 



154 



Independence 



[§148 



The Declara- 
tion of Inde- 
pendence. 
Higginson's 
Larger His- 
tory, ch. xi ; 
Fiske's Rev- 
olution, I, 
191-197; 
Schouler's 
Jefferson . 



of independence. In compliance with these instructions, 
on June 7, Richard Henry Lee, the chairman of the Vir- 
ginia delegation, moved three resolutions, of which the first 
is here given in full : " That these United Colonies are, 
and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that 
they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, 
and that all. political connection between them and the 
state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 
The other resolutions provided for the formation of a con- 
federation between the new states and for the establishment 
of alliances with foreign powers. 

The first resolution was briefly debated at the time ; but 
it was plain that many members were not then willing to 
vote in favor of it, either because they had not made up 
their own minds on the subject, or because they did not 
know how their constituents viewed the matter ; its further 
consideration was therefore postponed until July i. Mean- 
time a committee, composed of Thomas Jefferson, Benja- 
min Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert 
R. Livingston, was appointed to draft a declaration for 
consideration in case the resolution should be adopted. 
Jefferson's Summary Viejv and his Virginia Declaration of 
Independence clearly marked him out as the person most 
fitted to formulate the ideas which were then uppermost 
in the minds of the radicals. Without reference " to book 
or pamphlet," he wrote out the rough draft of the Declara- 
tion. " I did not consider it as any part of my charge to 
invent new ideas altogether, and to offer no sentiment which 
had never been expressed before." In point of fact, there 
are no ideas in the Declaration which had not long been 
in print. The first part of it is an exposition of the politi- 
cal theories which underlie the American system of govern- 
ment ; these were gathered by the men of the Revolution, 
from Otis to Jefferson, mainly from John Locke's immortal 
Essay on Government. Jefferson was so familiar with 
Locke's essay, that in some cases he repeated the actual 
words of the great philosopher, as, for example, in the sen- 




I5S 



156 



Independence 



[§148 



Independ- 
ence voted, 
July 2, 1776. 



Adoption of 
the Declara- 
tion, July 4, 
1776. 



Signing of 
the Declara- 
tion, August 
2, 1776. 
*Winsor's 
America, VI, 
268. 



tence, "But when a long train of abuses." The idea of the 
natural equality of man was taken directly from Locke and 
has no relation to the French school of philosophy. The 
student should be especially careful to guard against one 
of the common errors in American history, that the Declara- 
tion declares men to be free and equal, as there is no such 
statement in the document; the words are: "All men are 
created equal." The rough draft, as it came from Jeffer- 
son's pen, contained a strong statement against the slave 
trade. The phraseology was carefully revised by Franklin 
and Adams and the other members of the committee, and. 
reported to Congress on June 28. On July i, Lee's first 
resolution was taken from the table and debated at length. 
In the discussion which followed, it was defended by John 
Adams, while the arguments on the other side were ably 
stated by John Dickinson, who, sturdy patriot that he was, 
could not bring himself to acquiesce in independence. 
On July 2, the resolution was adopted, all the states voting 
in the affirmative save New York, and within a couple of 
weeks her delegates were instructed to assent to it. The 
Declaration, as reported by the committee, was then taken 
up, carefully considered, and greatly improved in many 
respects; but the clause denouncing the slave trade was 
struck out. Notwithstanding all these alterations, the Decla- 
ration as adopted on July 4 was substantially, with the 
exception mbove noted, as it was written by Jefferson. It 
was then referred back to the committee, that the language 
of the amendments and of the original might be made 
harmonious. A few copies were printed and published on 
July 5, authenticated with the signatures of the president 
and secretary of Congress. Subsequently (August 2, 1776), 
the Declaration, engrossed on parchment, was signed by 
the members of Congress present at the time of the signing, 
and two signatures were added later. The story of the 
document has been related at length because there is no 
more curious misconception in American history than the 
one which attributes the signing of the Declaration of Inde- 



1776] 



Campaign of ly/d 



157 



pendence to July 4. The greater part of the Declaration 
is taken up with the enumeration of a " long train of abuses," 
which justified the colonists in renouncing allegiance to the 
British crown : a careful study of that portion of the docu- 
ment would in itself give an insight into the history of 
America during the first three quarters of the eighteenth 
century. 

149. Campaign of 1776. — The scene of conflict was 
now transferred to New York. Sir William Howe, General 
Gage's successor, was able to bring into the field about twice 
as many men as Washington could muster for the defense 
of that important seaport. The Americans were gradually 
forced backward until they were divided into two bodies, — 
one in the Hudson valley, north of New York, barring the 
further progress of the British up the river, the other on the 
western side of the Delaware, guarding the crossings of that 
important stream. The British army occupied the inter- 
vening region. This was the darkest hour of the Revolu- 
tion : the American army was rapidly dwindling away ; 
poverty was staring Congress in the face ; and the forces of 
the king, abundantly supplied with all that was necessary 
for their comfort, were flushed with victory. In these cir- 
cumstances, Washington conceived and executed a move- 
ment which in its conception and in its execution showed 
the highest military skill. At Trenton, on the eastern bank 
of the Delaware, was a British outpost of about one thousand 
men, mostly Hessians. Crossing the Delaware on Christ- 
mas night (1776), Washington surprised and captured nearly 
the whole detachment. Cornwallis, with a strong force, was 
immediately sent against him ; but Washington gained his 
rear, and, after a sharp engagement at Princeton, went into 
camp on the hills of New Jersey. His presence there com- 
pelled the British to abandon nearly all their outposts in that 
state, and to concentrate their forces within reach of New 
York. 

150. Campaign of 1777. — The British plan of campaign 
for 1777 included two separate movements, — the capture 



Struggle for 
the Hudson. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI , 275-291 ; 
Fiske's 
N evolution, 
I, 200-228. 



Trenton. 
Winsor's 
America, VI 

370-379 ; 

Fiske's 
Revolution, 
I, 229-238. 



IS8 



Independence 



[§ 150 



Plan of 

campaign, 

1777. 



Capture of 

Philadelphia, 

1777. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VI, 38(^393; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

1 , 299-308, 

312-324. 



Burgoyne's 

campaign. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VI, 291-314; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

I, 260-298, 

308-311,324- 

337- 



of Philadelphia and bringing the army in Canada southward 
to reenforce the British at New York. The first part of the 
plan was successfully accomplished : Howe, with the greater 
part of the main British army, sailed from New York to the 
Chesapeake, marched overland to the Delaware, and, after 

an action at Brandy- 
wine Creek, compelled 
Washington to retire up 
the Schuylkill. The 
British then occupied 
Philadelphia and cap- 
tured the forts below the 
city. Washington, on 
his part, attacked a por- 
tion of the British army 
at Germantown, near 
Philadelphia, but was 
compelled to retire. 
The withdrawal of so 
many soldiers from New 
York left Clinton, who 
commanded there, too 
weak to afford effective assistance to the army coming from 
Canada. 

The command of this force was intrusted to General John 
Burgoyne. At first he enjoyed a gleam of success, for the 
Americans abandoned Ticonderoga without striking a blow. 
When he began his march from Lake Champlain and Lake 
George to Albany on the Hudson River, his misfortunes 
began. It took him fifty days to march seventy-five miles. 
The delay was of the utmost importance to the Americans, 
as it gave New England militiamen time to leave their 
homes and gather on the line of the British advance. Gen- 
eral Horatio Gates was now placed in command of the 
force opposing Burgoyne. Disasters now crowded fast on 
the British. Stark with men from western Massachusetts 
and New Hampshire overwhelmed a detachment sent to 




General Stark 




•a^u.^Nuiif^ 



.159 



i6o 



Independence 



[§ ISO 



The Sara- 
toga Con- 
vention, 
1777. 

*Winsor's 
America, VI, 

317-323 ; 

Fiske's 
Revolution , 
I. 339-344- 



seize supplies at Bennington ; and St. Leger, marching to 
Burgoyne's aid from Canada by the line of the Mohawk, was 
obliged to turn back. On September 19, the British army, 
advancing southward on the west bank of the Hudson, en- 
countered a strong force of Americans at a clearing in the 
forest known as Freeman's Farm. After a fierce encounter, 
the Americans retired to the main body on Bemis Heights, 
and Burgoyne threw up entrenchments where he was. On 
October 7 the Americans attacked the British, one party, 
led by Benedict Arnold, penetrating to the center of the 
enemy's position. Unable to advance, and suffering for 
provisions, the British endeavored to make their way back 
to Canada. When they again reached the crossing-place of 
the Hudson, a strong force of Americans was found posted 
on the eastern bank. Further retreat was impossible ; no 
aid could reach them from New York, and the British laid 
down their arms (October 17, 1777). 

The terms of their surrender were embodied in an agree- 
ment or convention, known as the Saratoga Convention. 
According to this, the British troops were to march to 
Boston and there embark on transports, to be furnished by 
the British government, on condition that they should not 
again serve in North America until exchanged. This agree- 
ment was most disadvantageous for the Americans, since the 
soldiers might be, and probably would be, used in Europe 
against allies, as the French, who might come to the colo- 
nists' aid, or they could be stationed in garrisons in the British 
Isles, or the West Indies, and the soldiers already in those 
garrisons transferred to America. This convention should 
never have been made, but once having been concluded, 
should have been carried out by both parties. The British, 
however, did not keep to the spirit of the agreement : public 
property, which rightfully belonged to the captors, was not 
given up, and Burgoyne uttered some rash words to the 
effect that the convention had been broken by the Americans. 
The- Americans understood from this that the British govern- 
ment would not regard the convention as binding. Congress 



1777, 1778] 



The Conway Cabal 



i6i 



seized this opportunity to avoid giving up the captured 
soldiers. After a winter passed in the vicinity of Boston, 
the " convention troops " were marched to the interior of 
Pennsylvania and Virginia and remained there during the 
war. 

151. The Conway Cabal, 1777, 1778. — One of the earliest 
results of the capture of Burgoyne's army was an attempt to 
displace Washington, with a view to the appointment of Gates 
in his stead. At the present time, few Americans doubt the 
pre-eminent qualities of Washington ; to foreigners as well, 




Conspiracy 
to displace 
Washington, 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
11,32-43. 
Sparks's 
Washing- 
ton's 

Writings, 
V, app. vi ; 
Lodge's 
Washington, 
I, 210-220. 



Steuben 

he stands foremost as the embodiment of patriotisin, common 
sense, and honesty ; and his campaigns attest his military 
capacity. To many men of the Revolutionary epoch, he did 
not appear in so favorable a light. Disaffected officers and 
suspicious members of Congress united to disparage his 
actions. They naturally gathered to Gates as their chosen 
leader, and he was weak enough to listen to their advances. 
The matter soon came to the knowledge of Washington, and 
that was the end of it. This dark intrigue, known as the 
Conway Cabal from one of the leading actors in it, is well 
worth studying by all those who desire to see under the sur- 
face of the Revolutionary period, to discover the sordid 



l62 



Independence 



[§ 152 



nature of many acts of so-called patriotism, and to view 
many of the Revolutionary heroes as they really were. 

In point of fact, the winter following the victory on the 
upper Hudson was the most critical period of the Revolu- 
tion, excepting the last three months of the preceding year 
(1776). The sufferings of the army at Valley Forge are 
described in every history of that time ; but it is only from 
Washington's own words that an adequate idea of them can 
be gathered : " To see men without clothes to cover their 
nakedness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes (for the 
want of which their marches might be traced by the blood 
from their feet) ... is a proof of patience and obedience 
which, in my opinion, can scarce be paralleled." And 
again : " For some days there has been little less than a 
famine in camp. A part of the army has been a week with- 
out any kind of flesh. . . . Naked and starving as they are, 
we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and 
fidelity of the soldiery." At one time, no fewer than two 
thousand eight hundred men were unfit for duty for want of 
shoes or clothing ; the terrible sufferings of those months knit 
the soldiers together into one compact army. During that 
winter, also, Baron Steuben, a Prussian veteran, drilled them 
so admirably that when they again took the field, the troops 
of the Continental Line, as the more permanent organizations 
were called, were as good as any to be found in the world. 

152. The French Alliance, 1778. — Commissioners from 
the United States had been at Paris since 1776 ; they were 
Silas Deane, Arthur Lee, and Benjamin Franklin, to men- 
tion them in the order of their arrival. Deane found the 
French government willing to assist the Americans with 
arms and supplies, but it insisted that the business should 
be carried on secretly. Burgoyne's surrender convinced the 
French that the Americans were likely to maintain their 
position. They were now willing to intervene openly in 
the dispute. Under these circumstances, negotiations were 
easily brought to a conclusion, and treaties of commerce 
.and alliajjce between the United States and France were 



778] 



The French Alliance 



163 



signed early in 1778. By the first of these treaties France 
acknowledged the independence of the United States and 
entered into commercial arrangements with the new nation. 
The treaty of alliance stipulated that in case war should 
break out between France and Great Britain in conse- 
quence of the friendly attitude of France, that country and 
the United States should make common cause against 
Great Britain, and that neither party should make a truce 
or peace without first 
obtaining the consent 
of the other. The 
two governments 
mutually guaranteed 
their possessions in 
America forever 
against all other 
powers and made 
arrangements for the 
division of territory 
which might be con- 
quered from Great 
Britain outside of the 
limits of the United 
States. 

153. Lord North's 
Conciliatory Pro- 
posals, 1778. — The 
British government at once declared war against France, and 
the treaty of alliance came into operation. Chatham proposed 
to withdraw the British. armies from the United States, use all 
its strength against France and Spain, in case the latter power 
should jom in the contest, — when these were humbled, the 
Americans could be dealt with. The king, however, would 
not intrust the government to Chatham, but suggested that 
he might take office under Lord North. That compliant 
minister, on his part, astonished his supporters by bringing in 
a new Declaratory Act, under which Parliament abandoned 




General Wayne 



Chatham's 

and North's 

proposals, 

1778. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 49-52 ; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

11,4-9,11-24 



164 



Independence 



[§ 154 



the right to " impose any duty, tax, or assessment whatso- 
ever . . . only such duties as it may be expedient to impose 
for the regulation of commerce, the net produce of such duties 
to be always paid and applied to and for the use of the colony 
in which the same shall be levied. " Commissioners were ap- 
pointed to negotiate with the Continental Congress on these 
terms. The day for halfway measures was past, and nothing 
came of the attempt. The war continued, but from this time 
on the British assumed the defensive in the Northern states. 

154. Treason of Charles Lee, 1778. — The first military re- 
sult to flow from the French alliance was the withdrawal of 
the British army from Philadelphia across the Jerseys to 
New York. Washington determined to strike the British 
while on the march. The command of the attacking force 
he intended to confide to Lafayette, who, young as he was, 
had shown marked military ability. Unfortunately, Charles 
Lee, a renegade Englishman, who had been captured by the 
British in 1776, returned from captivity in time to claim the 
command of the advance by right of seniority. The Ameri- 
cans overtook the British army near Monmouth ; Lee 
ordered his men to retire when victory seemed to be theirs. 
At that moment Washington reached the front, saved the 
army, and assumed so threatening an attitude that Howe's 
successor, Sir Henry CHnton, without waiting for daylight, re- 
sumed his march " by the light of the moon," — to use his own 
phrase. Lee was tried by court-martial and dismissed from 
the army ; there is now little question that he had entered 
into treasonable communications with the British authorities. 

Monmouth was the last important engagement in the 
North; thenceforward the British contented themselves with 
plundering expeditions, whose only result was to keep alive 
a keen sense of injury on the part of the Americans. The 
latter performed one brilliant exploit, — the capture of a 
British stronghold, Stony Point, on the Hudson. The move- 
ment was carefully planned by Washington and splendidly 
executed by the Light Lifantry of the Line under Anthony 
Wayne, one of the most dashing commanders of the war. 



[780] 



Arnold's Treason 



165 



155. Arnold's Treason, 1779-1780. — Benedict Arnold, the Benedict 

hero of Quebec and Saratoga, was careless of money and Arnold. 

. . *Winsor's 

given to lavish expenditure. His habits had aroused the America 
distrust of Congress, and other men of less ability and less VI, 447-468; 
experience had been promoted over his head. Washington ^^t^^V 
exerted all his influence in Arnold's favor, and as soon as a ii,ch. xiv.' 
wound received at Saratoga permitted, he was given the 
command at Philadelphia. There he became acquainted 
with many persons 
who were hostile 
to the American 
cause, and misused 
his official position 
for purposes of pri- 
vate gain. He was 
tried, convicted, 
and sentenced to be 
reprimanded by 
Washington. In 
performing this un- 
pleasant duty, the 
commander in chief 
said : " Our profes- 
sion is the chastest 
of all ; even the 
shadow of a fault 

tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. ... I repri- 
mand you for having forgotten that in proportion as you have 
rendered yourself formidable to our enemies you should have 
been guarded and temperate in your deportment towards your 
fellow-citizens. Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have 
placed you on the list of our most valued commanders. I 
will myself furnish you . . . with opportunities of regaining 
the esteem of your country." To enable him to do this, 
Washington appointed Arnold commander of West Point, the 
most important station of the Americans on the Hudson. 
Arnold already had been in correspondence with the 




Lafayette 



i66 



Independence 



[§iSS 



Andre 

captured, 

1780. 



British authorities, and probably he asked for this command 
that he might have something of value to betray to his new 
employers. At all events, the negotiations went on until 
the capture of John Andre, the British agent in the affair, dis- 
closed all. Arnold escaped to New York and received his 
promised reward of office and money, although he had not per- 
formed his part of the nefarious bargain. After the war, he 
lived in England, one of the most despised men in the world. 









His trial. Far more interesting is the discussion which has arisen 

cS"w^ ^^'^^ ^^^ execution of John Andr6. To understand his 
Trials, u, ' career, the student should compare his motives and his ac- 
w^nf ^^ ^'°"^ ^'^'^ *^°^^ °^ Nathan Hale, a noble American, whom 

aZITcu. ^^^ British hanged as a spy, or with those of two young for- 
VI, 467, 468. eigners, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. 
Andr6 was an agreeable young man who knowingly placed 
himself in the position of a spy, and suffered the pen- 
alty of death without flinching, as hundreds of men have 




THE 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR 

IN THE SOUTH 



i68 



Independence 



[§IS6 



The war in 
the South, 
1776-82. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 168-172 
and ch. vi ; 
Fiske's 
Revolution , 
II, ch. xiii, 
and ch. xv to 
p. 268. 



suffered before and since. There was nothing remarkable 
in his career ; it was only by a bold stretch of the imagina- 
tion that one could have held him worthy a place in West- 
minster Abbey, among the heroes of the English race ; and 
nothing save the sickliest sentimentalism could have in- 
duced an American to erect a monument to his memory on 
American soil. After his capture, Andre's status was exam- 
ined by a very coinpetent Court of Inquiry, presided over 

by Nathanael Greene ; 
among its members were 
Steuben, a Prussian vet- 
eran, and Lafayette, a 
general officer in the 
French army. It is idle 
to contend that their find- 
ing was not sound. Andr^ 
passed the American lines 
in disguise, under an as- 
sumed name, with papers 
betraying military secrets 
concealed in his boots. 
He had a pass from 
Arnold, giving safe con- 
duct to John Anderson; 
the document was con- 
ceived in fraud, was used 
for a fraudulent purpose, 
and could not for a moment have protected Andre against 
Arnold's commanding officer. 

156. The Southern Campaigns, 1776-1781. — The British 
had early directed their attention to the conquest of the 
South. In the winter of 1776, while the siege of Boston 
was still in progress. Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Parker 
had led an expedition to the conquest of Charleston. Their 
ignominious failure and the conflict in the North had 
diverted the British from any further attempts in that direc- 
tion, until toward the close of 1778, by which time they 




General Greene 



i78i] 



The Yorktown Campaign 



169 



seem to have become convinced that the South would offer 
less resistance to invasion than had been encountered in the 
North. In this opinion events showed that the British were 
right. The Southerners were able to make slight opposition 
to the well-equipped forces which captured Savannah in 
1778 and invaded South Carolina in 1779. Indeed, so 
hopeless did resistance at one time appear,- that Governor 
Rutledge of South Carolina drew up a letter in which it 
was proposed that the latter state should remain neutral, 
leaving the contest to be decided by the other states. 
In 1780, Clinton again appeared before Charleston. On 
this occasion he captured that town, and the British, under 
Cornwallis, soon overran the greater part of South Carolina. 
At the same time, other expeditions from New York under 
Phillips and Arnold began the conquest of Virginia. 
Toward the end of 1780, Nathanael Greene assumed di- 
rection of the defense of the South. By a series of remark- 
able campaigns, he compelled the British to yield up the 
greater portion of the Carolinas and Georgia and to retire 
to Charleston and Savannah. These results were accom- 
pHshed by Greene with a handful of trained soldiers of the 
Continental Line and large bodies of local mihtia. The 
leading events of these campaigns in the southernmost 
colonies were Clinton's attack on Charleston (1776), the 
capture of Savannah (1779), the capture of Charleston 
(1780), Gates's defeat at Camden (1780), the battle of 
King's Mountain (1780), Morgan's remarkable defeat of 
Tarleton at the Cowpens (1781), the battle of Guilford 
Court House (1781), Hobkirk's Hill (1781), the siege of 
Ninety-six (1781), and the battle of Eutaw Springs (1781). 

157. The Yorktown Campaign, 1781. — After the battle 
of Guilford Court House, Lord CornwalUs appears to have 
come to the conclusion that the permanent conquest of the 
Carolinas was impossible as long as Virginia was in the 
hands of the Americans and able to send men and supplies 
to the Southern armies. So he directed his march to Virginia 
from Wilmington, whither he had repaired after his unavail- 



Cornwallis 
in Virginia, 
1781. 
Winsor's 
America, VI 
496-500 ; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II, 268-272, 



lyo 



Independence 



[§ 157 



Siege and 

capture of 

Yorktown, 

1781. 

Winsoi's 

America, 

VI, 500-507; 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

II, 273-290. 



ing contest with Greene. In Virginia he found a small 
British force under Phillips and Arnold ; the former died 
almost immediately, the latter he sent to New York. 
Lafayette was also in Virginia with a small but highly 
efficient body of men, one of the divisions of Light Infantry 
of the Continental Line. He had originally been ordered 
to that region in the hope of entrapping Arnold ; now, he 
and Cornwallis marched up and down Virginia until Corn- 
wallis went into quarters at Portsmouth for the summer. 
Later, he removed his army to Yorktown, in obedience, as 
he supposed, to the orders of Clinton. 

Up to this time, the co-operation with France had pro- 
duced slight effect upon the contest beyond diverting the 
attention of the British from America, and securing the 
evacuation of Philadelphia. A French force under Rocham- 
beau had reached America in the summer of 1780, but 
it had been neutralized by the necessity of remaining at 
Newport, the place of debarkation, to protect the vessels 
which brought it over from a British fleet that had immedi- 
ately blockaded them. In the summer of 1781, De Grasse, 
the commander of the French fleet in the West Indies, sent 
word that he would sail northward during the hurricane 
season and reach the Chesapeake in September; his stay 
would be limited to a few weeks, and he hoped that 
something substandal might be accomplished ; he refused 
to try to cross the bar off New York, and added that he 
would bring a division of the French army from the West 
Indies. Washington had long desired to capture New 
York, but De Grasse's refusal to attempt the entrance of 
the harbor forbade that ; on the other hand, Cornwallis in 
his isolated position at Yorktown could be easily captured 
by the overwhelming force at Washington's disposal, should 
all go well. Everything worked for the American cause : 
Rodney, the British admiral in the West Indies, on bad 
terms with Clinton and interested in the plunder of St. Eu- 
statius, instead of following De Grasse, sent a division of 
his fleet ; the French army at Newport joined Washington 



i78i] 



Yorktown 



171 



at New York, and the march was so well managed that 
Clinton believed the threatened siege of New York to be 
actually begun, when in reality the allies were crossing the 
Delaware on their way southward. De Grasse reached the 
Chesapeake at the appointed time, fought an action with 
the British fleet which compelled the latter's return to New 
York, and again entered the Chesapeake, to find the French 
vessels which had escaped from Newport safely riding at 
anchor. Besieged by more than twice his own numbers, 
and cut off from succor from New York, Cornwallis surren- 
dered Yorktown and his army on October 19, 1781. This 
royal disaster closed military operations on the continent. 

158. Naval Warfare. — The part played by American sea- 
men in the conflict has been too little studied and appre- 
ciated by our historical writers. The navies of the separate 
states and of the United States performed many most im- 
portant services in the cause of liberty ; but where so much 
obscurity exists, it is difficult to mention the names of par- 
ticular individuals without doing injustice to other less well- 
known but equally deserving sea fighters. Among those 
whose exploits are recorded with tolerable certainty are 
Manly, of the Massachusetts navy, VVickes, who first carried 
the national flag across the Atlantic, Paul Jones, who cap- 
tured the British ship Serapis after a most gallant fight. 
Commodore Hopkins, and Commodore Tucker. More 
important than the achievements of these men of the reg- 
ular navies were those of the privateers, who pursued their 
hazardous calling with great success, and materially affected 
the rates of insurance on British merchant vessels. 

159. Congress and the Army, 1775-1782. — From the out- 
set there was always great difficulty in securing the requisite 
number of soldiers and in keeping up a disciplined force: 
the people were usually ready to turn out for a few weeks 
at a time ; but enlistments for a term of years were hard to 
obtain, and the new recruits were undisciplined and not to 
be relied upon in action. One army had been disbanded 
and another formed while the siege of Boston was in prog- 



The war on 
the water. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, ch. vii; 
Fiske's 
Revolution, 
II, ch. xii. 



Allen's 
Naval 
History of 
the Revolu- 
tion. 



Difficulty in 

securing 

soldiers. 

Fiske's 

Revolution, 

1 , 242-248 ; 

Critical 

Period, loi- 

103. 



172 



Independence 



t§ 159 



Dislike of 
a regular 
army. 





ONE SIXTl(<iKAST»ANIiHkJl 
yiiUd Dollaroti/iiValut^ r^ 
lh€reof'inGoldorSilver '^ 
/oAc grwniiiexcIiaTige at .N/ 
Treasury o{T>«o/A7>», 
P-a-suant to ACT o/ 

ASSE'MBXiV 



ress. Washington was most inadequately supplied with 
soldiers during the campaign of 1776; but in the closing 
months of that year Congress reluctantly authorized the 
formation of a permanent force, — the Continental Line. 
It most unwisely left the recruiting of the soldiers, and even 
the appointment of the regimental officers, to the several 
states. The inevitable result was that the quotas of some 
states were never filled, and many of the officers were 
most inefficient, — were not " fit to be shoeblacks," to use 
Washington's own words. Once organized and drilled, the 
soldiers of the Line became a splendid force, able to en- 
counter successfully their own number of the veterans of 

Great Britain or of 
Germany. Then began 
an arduous struggle to 
see that justice was done 
to them. 

The people enter- 
tained an unreasonable 
jealousy of a permanent 
military force, and the 
feeling found full rep- 
resentation in Congress. 
Washington protested against it with all the arguments sug- 
gested to him by the necessities of the situation. " In other 
countries," he wrote at one time, " the prejudice against 
standing armies exists only in time of peace, and this because 
the troops are a distinct body from ^ its citizens ... it is 
our policy to be prejudiced against them in time of war, 
though they are citizens." The soldiers suffered every hard- 
Hardships of ship, were half-starved for long periods of time, were ill pro- 
vided with clothing, and were always inadequately paid, 
sometimes not paid at all for months. The officers' ex- 
penses constantly exceeded their incomes, and their families 
at home were left in great destitution. At one time they 
threatened to resign in a body, at another the soldiers broke 
out into open mutiny. Washington exerted his influence to 



DKATH Tt 






0^ 



?^^ 



Virginia currency 



llie soldiers. 



1783] 



The Newhurg Addresses 



173 



the utmost and secured from Congress a bounty for the 
soldiers in the shape of grants of land, and for the officers 
half pay for life to those who should serve until the close of 
the war. But the first Congress under the Articles of Con- 
federation annulled these votes upon the unworthy pretext 
that nine states had not assented to the vote, as the Articles 
demanded, but only a majority, as had been sufficient under 
the rules of the Old Congress. The officers then offered to 
compromise for full pay for seven years. As the conclusion 
of the war drew near, the anxieties of the soldiers increased ; 
for they knew that when once disbanded they would be in no 
position to enforce their reasonable demands. 

160. The Newburg Addresses, 1783. — In this condition 
of uncertainty, the soldiers turned to Washington, and some 
of the more unstable among them talked of making him 
king. This proposition was actually suggested to him ; he 
spurned it in a manner which has separated him from all 
other successful leaders in civil strife since the days of the 
Roman republic. " No occurrence," he said, " in the 
course of the war has given me more painful sensations 
than your information of there being such ideas existing 
in the army, as you have expressed, and I must view with 
abhorrence and reprehend with severity." 

The officers' and soldiers' pay was now years in arrears ; 
in March, 1783, the matter came to a head. While 
the army was encamped at Newburg on the Hudson, an 
address was published anonymously, calling a meeting of 
officers to consider the best means of bringing their claims 
to the attention of Congress. It was written in inflamma- 
tory language, advising, among other things, that the army 
should not disband on the conclusion of peace unless their 
grievances were in the meantime redressed. Fortunately, 
Washington was at hand. With his customary tact, he 
summoned a meeting himself. Addressing the assembled 
officers in the most sympathetic language, he procured the 
abandonment of the proposed mode of action, and then he 
used his influence to the utmost to secure justice for those 



Proposition 
to make 
Washington 
king. 



Newburg 
Addresses, 

1783- _ 
Fiike's 
Critical 
Period, io6- 
112. 



174 



Independence 



[§i6i 



who so fully trusted him. This he was able to do with 
the greater effect, because he himself had steadfastly refused 
to receive any remuneration for his services beyond the 
payment of his necessary expenses. Congress voted full 
pay for five years in such obligations of the government as 
other creditors received ; how much this really amounted 
to is not known. The hardships of the soldiers and the 
insufficiency of the means placed in Washington's hands 
for carrying on the conflict were due in great measure to 
the poverty of Congress. 

i6i. Finances of the Revolution. — At the beginning of 
the conflict, when enthusiasm was at its highest, the Con- 








PS. npH I S B I L L entitles the Bearer to 

-■• Kceive^W6'Vi^^.9'y S-iumSX m,Pf) 

lP0jCJi<^^^, or the Value thereof 

lin ^/^d or Si^er, according to the Refo- 

[flutions of the GOWylSSS, held at 

'J'^/^a.ik^luii, ihe loth Qi(Maj^ ^775- 



Continental currency 



Financial 
affairs. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 69-72. 



tinental Congress had not asserted the right to levy taxes : 
it simply called upon the several colonies and later states 
to pay their proportions of the general expenses. This 
the states as a whole had never done. Congress necessarily 
had recourse to the plan of issuing paper money, to be re- 
deemed by the states, — which never did redeem it. Other 
means of raising money were lotteries and loans, both of 
which brought in something, though much less than was 
urgently needed. Ultimately, Congress adopted the expedi- 



1783] 



The Loyalists 



175 



ent of paying for supplies in loan-ofifice certificates which 
bore interest, and in requiring the states to furnish specific 
suppHes, since they would not pay money. The funds 
which really made it possible to continue the struggle after 
1777 were obtained from foreign governments, mainly from 
France, and from individual capitalists in Holland. 

It is easy for the historical writer of the present day to 
condemn the Continental Congress for not seizing the tax- 
ing power at the beginning and for issuing large quantities 
of practically irredeemable paper money. It should be 
remembered, however, that the leaders of Congress in 1775 
and 1776 were among the most skillful statesmen the coun- 
try has ever had ; they were much better able to judge of 
the temper of the people than is the student of the present 
day, and they had to reckon with a powerful opposition in 
nearly every state. Moreover, the rapidly depreciating paper 
currency was really a species of tax ; it was probably the only 
form of general taxation the people would have endured. 

162. The Loyalists. — The Continental Congress and 
the several state legislatures were unable to adopt more 
energetic measures, owing, in part at least, to the fact that 
large portions of the people were either opposed to the 
contest with Great Britain or were half-hearted in its prose- 
cution. The people may be considered as divided into 
three portions : the radicals, who supported the movement 
enthusiastically ; and the conservatives, who opposed it as 
much as they could ; between these two extremes was the 
great mass of the population, who cared little which way 
the matter went provided they were left in peace. As 
is always the case, in times of disturbance, the radicals, 
being the most aggressive, exercised power and attracted 
attention out of all proportion to their numerical impor- 
tance. It is of course impossible to state the numbers of 
these sections respectively or to give an accurate idea of 
the proportion each bore to the whole. Some very com- 
petent students beheve that the radicals were in a iTiinority : 
it is certain that in some parts of the country the conserva- 



Criticisms 
on the con- 
duct of 
Congress. 



The Tories. 
*Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 185-214. 



176 



Independence 



[§163 



The patriot 
leaders and 
the loyalists. 



Fallofthe 

North 

Ministry, 

1782. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 1-45. 



live element was at least equal in point of number to the 
radical section and was fully as aggressive ; this was the 
case in South Carolina, in Pennsylvania, in New York, 
and in portions of Massachusetts. Many loyalists fought 
actively on the king's side ; they formed regiments, as 
Ferguson's Riflemen, who were destroyed at King's Moun- 
tain, and the Queen's Rangers, who accompanied Arnold 
to Virginia. The most celebrated of these warlike loyal- 
ists was Benjamin Thompson, a native of Massachusetts ; 
after the war he went to Europe, became one of the most 
important scientific men of the time and received the title 
of Count Rumford from the king of Bavaria. The active 
loyalists were regarded with hatred by the Revolutionary 
leaders : Washington stigmatized them as " detestable par- 
ricides," and words were insufficient to exhibit Franklin's 
detestation of these devoted adherents of the British mon- 
arch. Qn the other hand, a great deal of the bitterness 
displayed by the loyalists was the direct result of the 
severity with which they were treated by the radicals. Of 
late years, there has been a disposition to regard their loy- 
alty with more leniency and some students even regret 
the harsh measures which drove them from the country. 

163. Peace Negotiations of 1782. — The disaster at York- 
town not merely brought hostilities in America to a sudden 
close, it also put an abrupt termination to the king's system 
of government in Great Britain. Lord North, who had 
long been anxious to leave office and had remained only 
from a misplaced feeling of loyalty to his royal master, 
now resigned and the king was obliged to summon Rock- 
ingham and the other leaders of the opposition and place 
the government in their hands. The two secretaries of 
state in the new ministry were Charles James Fox and the 
Earl of Shelburne. They were the real leaders of the gov- 
ernment, and were not on good terms. Pox hated and 
distrusted Shelburne, and there was some ground for his 
dislike ; the latter, indeed, was regarded by men of that 
time as a trickster. At all events, Shelburne seems to have 




Benjamin Franklin 
At the age of sixty, after a painting by Martin 



177 



178 



Independence 



[§163 



Propositions 
for peace, 
1782. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 96-106. 



Jay's suspi- 
cions of 
France and 
Spain. 



been sincerely desirous of peace with America. He opened 
communications with Dr. Franklin, whom he had known 
well during the latter's residence in England before the war. 
This, coming to the ears of Fox, confirmed his suspicions 
of Shelburne's fidelity and he seized the opportunity afforded 
by Rockingham's death to resign with his friends ; then 
Shelburne became the head of a reconstructed ministry. 

The instructions to the American commissioners required 
them to proceed in conjunction with the French government. 
The commissioners appointed were Dr. Franklin, minister 
to France ; John Jay, minister to Spain ; John Adams, who 
had official business in Holland ; Henry Laurens and 
Thomas Jefferson. The last did not cross the ocean and 
Laurens was captured on the voyage and was a prisoner in 
the Tower of London during the period of important nego- 
tiations. The first communications were with Dr. Franklin, 
who was soon joined by Jay. The former had lived long in 
France, had been regarded as one of the " lions " of the 
day, and had a firm faith in the honesty and good will of 
the French government. Jay's experience in Spain had 
led him to believe that the Bourbon powers (France and 
Spain) were using the American war to further their own 
interests, especially those of Spain. Jay thought that he 
had sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that these 
governments were opposed to the extension of the United 
States beyond the Alleghanies and preferred to have the 
British retain the territory between the Ohio, the Great 
Lakes, and the Mississippi, to having it handed over to the 
new republic. He also thought that France was opposed 
to having the Americans share in the rights to the fisheries 
under the Treaty of Utrecht, and that Spain was similarly 
opposed to giving them a share in the free navigation of the 
Mississippi, secured to England in the treaty of 1763. John 
Adams, when he reached Paris, agreed with Jay ; the com- 
missioners broke their instructions and negotiated directly 
with Great Britain, without the knowledge of France. 

The " Preliminary Articles " which should form a treaty 



i^aif 



"'Ptg 




r^ 



C.O'*' 



licosl'c 




\0 V L 



Op 



^Exic, 






THE SPANISH POSSESSIONS. 

According to the proposals of the Court of France 

in 1782. 

English lUd 

United States .„. Green 

SpaaisTj Yellow 

TTncolored Indian Ttrrilory 
tinder Spanish or jimeriean pro- 
tection, according at it liet West or 
.East of the Yellow inleraectiny line, ■ — " 

SoalaofEngliBb M-lei 




Longitude "West of Greenwich. 80 



No. III. The Negotiations of 1782 
From Fitzmaurice's Li/e of Shelburne 



tySsl 



Tlie Treaty of Peace 



179 



when a general peace should be made between Great 
Britain and the United States were signed on November 30, 
1782. Dr. Franklin communicated them to the French 
government with so many soothing assurances, that France 
acquiesced in them. September 3, 1783, the Definitive 
Treaty was signed at Paris on the same day that treaties 
between Great Britain and France and between Great Britain 
and Spain were signed at Versailles ; in this manner, the 
terms of the alliance with France were technically complied 
with. It is necessary to examine in detail the treaty be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain, as on its pro- 
visions depended in great measure the relations between 
those powers for many years. 

164. The Treaty of Peace, 1783. — The boundaries of the 
new nation were to be those of the English colonies accord- 
ing to the treaty of 1763 and the king's Proclamation of 
that year (§ 106). Thus the Mississippi to the thirty-first 
parallel was to be the western boundary. The southern 
boundary was the northern boundary of the Floridas ac- 
cording to the Proclamation, — the thirty-first parallel, from 
the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee, then down that river 
to its junction with the Flint, thence in a straight line to the 
source of the St. Mary's, and thence to the sea. This was 
the line contained in both the Preliminary Articles and the 
Definitive Treaty. A separate and secret article, appended 
to the former, provided that in case Great Britain should 
win back the Floridas from Spain, which had overrun them, 
the southern boundary of the United States between the 
Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers should be the parallel 
of thirty-two degrees and thirty minutes. This had been 
the northern boundary of West Florida in the commissions 
of the governors of that territory. It is important to note 
this because Great Britain, as a part of the general settle- 
ment of 1783, ceded to Spain "the Floridas " without any 
statement of boundary. Spain argued that this gave her 
West Florida as it had been governed for twenty years; 
the United States contended that the thirty-first parallel 



The Pre- 
liminary 
Articles, 
1782. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 137-145. 



The Defini- 
tive Treaty, 

1783. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 163- 
165; 

McDonald's 
Docutnentary 
Source Book, 
No. 52. 

Boundaries. 



i8o 



Independence 



[§164 



was the southern boundary of the United States designated 
in the treaty of 1783 and thus hmited Florida on the north. 
The matter was finally arranged to the satisfaction of the 
United States in 1795 (§ 204), but only after long and 
harassing disputes. The treaty of 1783 provided also that 
the navigation of the Mississippi River, which was then sup- 
posed to rise north of the Great Lakes, should be free to both 




The United States, 1783 

parties. This right had been guaranteed to Great Britain 
in 1763. Spain, however, tried to evade the carrying out of 
its obligations, and this too led to much irritation (§ 175). 

The northern boundary of the United States, as far west 
as the St. Lawrence, was the southern boundary of Canada, 
according to the Proclamation of 1763 (§ 106). From 
the point where the forty-fifth parallel reached the St. Law- 
rence, it followed the channel of that river, the Great Lakes, 
and connecting waters to the northwest corner of the Lake 
of the Woods, and thence due west to the source of the 



■783] 



The Treaty of Peace 



Mississippi. The settlement of this line gave rise to in- 
numerable disputes, which were not finally set at rest until 
1842 (§ 297). 

The British government had been solicitous that the The loyalists. 
United States should make some provision for the loyalists. 
This was a matter on which Franklin, at all events, held 
very decided opinions, — nor were the other commissioners 
willing to accede to such a proposition. They consented, 
however, to the insertion of a meaningless provision that 
Congress would "recommend" the states to pass relief acts. 
The recommendation was made in due course and was 
entirely unheeded ; not only unheeded, but some states 
actually increased the severity of their measures against the 
loyalists. Parliament, however, made fairly liberal provi- 
sion for their maintenance. 

Another subject, and one which gave rise to many dis- Debts, 
putes later on, was what should be done as to debts owed 
by individuals to British creditors at the beginning of the 
conflict. It was finally decided that these debts should be 
payable at the close of the war. There was no way of 
enforcing these obligations until the formation of the gov- 
ernment under the Constitution (i 789) ; the non-observance 
of the treaty in this respect gave rise to much trouble 
(§ 201). 

Still another difficult point was the question of the The fisheries, 
fisheries. Of course any one had the right to sail to the 
banks of Newfoundland and there fish out of sight of land 
and far away from the limit of jurisdiction recognized by 
international practice. To make this fishing really valu- 
able, as it was then carried on, it was necessary to have the 
right to do certain things within the limit of jurisdiction, 
— to secure bait, for instance, or to dry the fish on the un- 
settled coasts. These rights had been shared between 
the subjects of Great Britain and France according to the 
provisions of the Peace of Utrecht, and also of the later 
treaty of 1763. The Americans, feeling that the new settle- 
ment was in the nature of a division of the Empire, thought 



l82 



Independence 



[§i6s 



Washing- 
ton's letter 
to the gov- 
ernors. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 53 ; 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
Gen. Ser. 
No. 15. 



that the fisheries should be shared between the American 
and the British fishermen, as they had been shared between 
the subjects of King George living in America and in 
Britain before the war. This was certainly a great conces- 
sion for Great Britain to make, but after considerable 
controversy it was finally included in the treaty. 

165. Problems of Peace. — The United States were now 
independent, but the problems which confronted the Ameri- 
can people were no less arduous of solution than the securing 
of their independence had been. The stress of war had failed 
to unite them into one nation; would the time of peace be 
any more fortunate? In a circular letter to the state gov- 
ernors (June, 1783) Washington referred to these fears in 
language which showed him to be not merely a military 
leader but a statesman as well. A few sentences from this 
letter, which should be read by every student, will be a 
fitting close to this chapter. "It is yet to be decided," he 
wrote, " whether the revolution must ultimately be con- 
sidered as a blessing or a curse. 

"... This is the moment to establish or ruin their 
[the American people's] national character for ever. . . . 
There should be lodged somewhere a supreme power to 
regulate and govern the general concerns of the Confed- 
erated republic, without which the Union cannot be of 
long duration." 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

Bring to class a topical analysis of the history of England and of 
France, 1775-83. 



§§ 140-144. The Beginning of the Contest, 1775-76 

a. Compare the strength of the combatants as to (i) material and 
moral resources, (2) unanimity of opinion, (3) naval and military dis- 
cipline, (4) physical condition of theater of war. 

b. In view of the nature of the theater of war, what military policy 
would commend itself to the Americans? to the British? Give exam- 
ples of the defective strategy of the British. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 183 

§§ 145-148. Independence 

a. What does the election of Jefferson to the Second Continental 
Congress prove? Give your reasons. 

b. Why does the formation of the state constitutions mark an epoch 
in the history of the world? 

c. Compare the first constitution of Virginia with the present consti- 
tution of your state. 

d. Read the first and the last paragraphs of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Did those who voted for that Declaration have in mind 
the formation of one nation or of thirteen nations? 

e. Why has the Declaration been called the political Bible of 
America? 

§§ 149-152, 155-159. MiLiiARY Affairs 

a. Describe the British plan of campaign and American resistance 
in 1776, in 1777, in 1778, in 1779, in 17S0, and in 1781, noting in each 
case the strength of the opposing armies, physical condition of theater 
of war, results of campaigns, and qualities shown by opposing com- 
manders. 

b. State the importance of each of the following events : the Sara- 
toga Convention, the Conway Cabal, the execution of Andre. 

c. Sketch Greene's Southern campaigns, noting especially the part 
played by the Southern militia. 

d. Represent upon an Outline Map the important military move- 
ments in the South from November, 1780, to November, 1781. 

§§ 152, 153. The French Alliance 

a. What matter in this chapter must you enter in your note-book 
under heading, " Important Treaties"? 

b. Compare the services to the cause of independence of Washing- 
ton and of Franklin. 

c. Were Lord North's conciliatory proposals a total surrender of 
Great Britain's colonial system? Give your reasons. 

§§ 160-162. Internal Affairs 

a. Give historical grounds for the aversion of the Americans to a 
permanent army. 

b. Place as heading in note-book, " Financial History," and enter 
under it all fitting matter as you proceed. 

c. Can you suggest any moral objection to the position of the Ameri- 
can loyalists? How do you justify Washington's and Franklin's atti- 
tude toward the loyalists? 



1 84 Independence 

§§ 163-165. Peace 

a. Discuss the treatment of France by the United States at the time 
of the peace negotiations. 

b. Look up Jay's previous training and character and weigh care- 
fully the value of his conclusions as opposed to those of Frankhn. 

c. What claim upon the United States had the loyalists? 

d. Washington's Circular Letter to the State Governors. What cir- 
cumstances favorable to the political happiness of the American people 
does Washington enumerate? What four essentials to the existence 
of the United States as an independent power does he state? Quote 
his words which show his views about centralization of power, the right 
of secession, the full discharge of the national debt, pensions. What 
other later issues in the history of the United States are touched in this 
letter? 

Historical Geography 

a. Represent in colors upon an Outline Map the boundary provi- 
sions of the treaty of 1783, using your Map of 1763 as a basis; put also 
upon it in dotted line the possible boundary indicated by the "secret 
article" of 1782. What different boundary disputes arose over the 
provisions of this treaty? When and how settled? Mark the final 
boundaries under these agreements on this map. 

b. Make any necessary changes on your maps of Territorial Posses- 
sions and on the map of your state. 

Gkner-.\l Questions 

a. Carefully define the following words: state, nation, federation, 
confederation. 

b. Compare the American Revolution with the Puritan Rebellion, 
with the Revolution of 1688-89, "ith the French Revolution, and with 
the Civil War. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See note under this head at end of Chapter I.) 

a. The battle of Trenton (with a plan), Guide, 305. 

b. The battle of Bennington (with a plan). Guide, 306. 

c. The Monmouth campaign (with a plan), Guide, 306. 

d. Was Andre a spy? Guide, 307. 

e. The battle of the Cowpens (with a plan), Guide, 309. 
/ Naval warfare of the Revolution, § 158. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CONSTITUTION, 1 783-1 789 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, 3-18; Walker's 
Making of the Nation, 1-73; * Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, 
569-610; Fiske's Civil Government, 1S6-267. 

Special Accounts. — * Winsor's America, VII ; * Von Hoist's Con- 
stitutional History, I ; Lodge's Washington, II; Schouler's United 
States; * McMaster's /'^f//^ of the United States,!; Fiske's Critical 
Period. 

Sources. — Biographies and writings of Washington, Madison, 
Hamilton, Jay, Franklin, J. Adams, Gouverneur Morris, Rufus King, 
Mason, Henry, R. H. Lee, Gerry, for titles see Guide, §§ 39, 46, 47; 
Journals of Congress ; Journal of the Convention; Madison's Notes; 
Elliot's Debates ; American History Leaflets ; Old South Leaflets. 

Maps. — Hinsdale's Old Northwest, Nos. vi-ix; Winsor's America, 
VII, App. I. 

Bibliography. — Guide to Atnerican History, §§ 158, 166-175. 

Illustrative Material. — Landon's Constitutional History ; * TncV- 
e^^s History of the United States ; Gay's A/adison ; Morse's Franklin 
* G. T. Curtis's History of the Constitution, or his Constitutional His- 
tory ; * Bancroft's History of the Constitution ox his United States (\ast 
revision), VI; * Story's Commentaries; * Thayer's Cases on Constitu- 
tional Law ; Hamilton's Federalist ; R. H. Lee's Letters of a Federalist 
Farmer; Scharf's Maryland ; Cutler's Ordinance of jySy ; Dunn's 
Indiana; Hinsdale's Old Northwest ; Roosevelt's Winning of the 
West, III; Sumner's Finances of the Revolution ; Pomeroy's Constitu- 
tional Laiv; Hinsdale's American Government; * Fiske's American 
Political Ideas, ch. ii. 

THE CONSTITUTION, 1 783-1 789 

i66. Nationalism and Particularism. — At the beginning 
of the Revolution it seemed as if pubhc opinion was favor- 

18s 



1 86 



The Constitution 



[§167 



Fianklin's 

plan. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 20. 



able to the formation of a national government. On the 
first day of the meeting of the Continental Congress, Patrick 
Henry asserted that the colonial governments were destroyed, 
and asked, " Where are your landmarks, your boundaries of 
colonies? . . . The distinctions between Virginians, Penn- 
sylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more ; 
I am not a Virginian, but an American." The question of 
the mode of voting in Congress was then under discussion, 
and Henry proposed that the freemen of the several colonies 
should be represented according to numbers. As there was 
then no way to ascertain the population of the several colo- 
nies, this could not be done. Congress decided that each 
colony should have one vote. Until the end of 1776, the 
Continental Congress occupied the most commanding 
position of any governmental body in America : the people 
of the several states asked its advice as to the regulation of 
their affairs and followed its recommendations (§ 145). 
After that year. Congress lost much of its authority, and the 
state governments, once formed, rapidly gained the respect of 
the people. This change of sentiment was partly due to the 
fact that the state legislatures soon acquired the right to ap- 
point the delegates of the state in Congress ; but it was due 
more especially to the fact that the local legislatures were 
more under the control of the people than was Congress. 
It was in these circumstances that the Articles of Confedera- 
tion were drawn up and sent to the states for ratification. 

167. Formation of the Articles of Confederation. — The 
earliest draft of a plan for a federal union was made by 
Franklin, and was read in Congress on July 21, 1775. In 
June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia coupled with 
the resolution of independence another for the formation 
of Articles of Confederation (§ 148). It is possible that 
the expectation was that the declaration and the frame of 
government would form one instrument, as was later the 
case in Virginia. A "grand committee," consisting of one 
member from each colony, was appointed to devise a plan 
of union ; it reported through its chairman, John Dickinson, 



[777] 



The Articles of Confederation 



187 



in the middle of July. The matter was discussed at intervals 
until November, 1777, when the Articles were adopted 
and sent to the states. They vary in form and language 
from Dickinson's draft, but resemble it very closely in all 
essential features. It will be well, perhaps, to note a few 
of the differences between Franklin's draft and the report 
of the committee. Franklin provided for the regulation of 
"general commerce" by the Congress; this was confided 
to the states in Dick- 
inson's draft, except 
in so far as com- 
merce was affected 
by treaties entered 
into by Congress. 
In Franklin's scheme 
representation in 
Congress was to be 
distributed among 
the states in pro- 
portion to their pop- 
ulation, and each 
delegate was to have 
one vote ; in the 
committee's report 
a state might send as 
many delegates as it 
chose between two 




John Dickinson 



and seven, but each state should have only one vote. 
Franklin provided for amendments by vote of a majority of 
the state assemblies ; Dickinson required the consent of all 
the state legislatures to any change, and thereby made 
change impossible. 

168. The Articles of Confederation. — The best, in fact 
the only, way to understand the new arrangement for gov- 
ernment, and to comprehend its place in the history of the 
United States, is to study with care the document itself and 
to compare it with the Articles of Confederation of the 



Articles of 
Confedera- 
tion, adopted 
1777. Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
90-101 ; 
American 
History 
Lea/lets, 
No. 20; 
Old Soutk 
Leaflets, 
Gen. Ser. 
No. 2. 



The Articles 
of Confed- 
eration, and 
other plans 
of federal 
Union. 



i88 



The Constitution 



[§169 



■American 
History 
Leaflets, 
Nos. 7, 8, 14, 



The Articles 
compared 
with the 
Union of 
England 
and Scot- 
land. 



New England colonies (§ 73) and with the Albany Plan 
of Union (§ 107) on the one side, and with the Constitu- 
tion (§ 182) on the other. It is also very helpful, but 
more difficult, to study it in connection with the govern- 
mental arrangements of Great Britain after 1603, and before 
the Act of Union of i 707, and with the actual constitution 
of the kingdom after that time. During the first of these 
periods England and Scotland had the same king ; each 
kingdom, however, had its own legislative body and its own 
system of laws; the Act of Union brought about a change in 
this latter regard, the two kingdoms henceforth having one 
legislative body and one system of laws. In the former time, 
for instance, the colonies, by the navigation acts, could no 
more trade with Scotland than they could with France ; in 
the latter time, Scotland and England were regarded as one 
country as far as colonial trade was concerned. The first 
form of union is known as a personal union ; the latter is 
usually termed a legislative union. Before the Revolution 
the colonies had denied that there was a legislative union 
between the several colonies and the home state. They 
maintained that the Union was merely a personal union 
through the king, to whom all owed allegiance. In their 
endeavor to find some means of replacing the discarded 
authority of Britain, they constructed a government which 
should have the power which they had contended belonged 
to the British government, and no more. Under the Con- 
federation each state possessed its own legislative body and 
its own system of laws ; Congress took the place of the 
British king and exercised very nearly the same authority 
that the colonists had contended belonged to that monarch. 
For instance, Congress could make war and conclude peace, 
and maintain an army and navy, but it could not tax the people 
of the several states, and had no power to compel obedience 
in a state or an individual. It turned out to be utterly impos- 
sible to carry on the central government under this system. 
169. Importance of the Articles of Confederation. — The 
Articles are contemptible as a scheme of government ; but 



1777] Claims to Western Lands 189 

the fact of their adoption was one of the half-dozen most Gravity of 
important events in the history of the United States. The f^*^ crisis, 

1777—81, 

people of the thirteen states, who were struggling together 
for independence, might have formed one government or 
thirteen governments, or any number of governments between 
one and thirteen, as they saw fit ; that they preferred to 
live bound together by even the loosest tie, showed a spirit 
of nationalism which was certain to lead to better results. 
Before condemning the men of 1776 for drawing up such I 
an absurd scheme, it is well to remember that they had no | 
experience to guide them : never before had a confederation 
of the size of the United States even been proposed ; never 1 
before had any one tried to write out on paper a constitution 
for such a federation. The adoption of the Articles ter- 
minated one of the most serious crises in the history of the 
United States. The gravity of the occasion may easily be 
gathered from the fact that it was nearly four years ere the 
legislatures of the thirteen states gave their consent to the 
new form of government. The principal reason for this de- 
lay was the dispute which had arisen as to the disposal of 
the land between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. 

170. Claims to Western Lands. — In 1763, the king had Claims to 
forbidden the governors of the colonies on the seashore western 
to grant to settlers any lands west of the Alleghanies. In (Fiske's 
1774, Parliament had annexed all of this western territory i Critical 
north of the Ohio River to the province of Quebec (§ 136). ' "^^ ' . 
In 1776, when the colonies declared themselves to be inde-i winsor's 
pendent states, they set up their old claims to western lands ^'"erica, 
regardless of king or Parliament. ' ^^^' ' 

Under her old charter of 1629 Massachusetts claimed all Claims of 
lands west of the settled portions of New York, between the '^^ states, 
parallels of points three miles north of the source of the 
Merrimac and three miles south of the source of the Charles. 
Connecticut based her claim on the charter of 1662, which 
had never been formally annulled. This gave her, she con- 
tended, a clear title to all lands south of the Massachusetts 
line as far as the latitude of New York City. The state of 



1 9© 



The Constitution 



[§ 170 



Clark's 
western 
campaign, 

1778-79- 
Winsor's 
America, 
VI, 716; 
Thwaites's 
How Clark 
Won the 
Northwest. 



Claims of 
Georgia. 



New York had no claim under any charter, but the Iroquois 
had given a deed of cession of all their lands to the governor 
of New York as representative of the king. This included 
all the western land north of the Tennessee River, as the 
Iroquois had pretended to exercise authority over the In- 
dians living in this vast region. It was now urged that this 
cession had been made to the governor of the colony of 

New York, and that 
the state of that name 
succeeded to the 
rights which the Iro- 
quois had once pos- 
sessed. Virginia, on 
her part, claimed 
nearly the same land, 
under the charter of 
1609, which had 
been annulled in 1624 
(§§40,44). She also 
contended that her 
soldiers, led by a Vir- 
ginia ofificer, George 
Rogers Clark, and 
paid out of the Vir- 
ginia treasury, had 
conquered this terri- 
tory from the British 
(1778-79). Already 
colonists from Virginia had begun the occupation of the re- 
gion now included in the state of Kentucky. The Carolin- 
ians claimed lands south of the Virginia line and north of the 
parallel of the Savannah River, under the charters of 1663 
and 1665 as modified by the Georgia grant of 1732 (§ 100). 
Georgia claimed land under the charter of 1732, which had 
been limited in point of time and had been surrendered to 
the crown in 1751. She further contended that the Proc- 
lamation of 1763, which added to her domains the land lying 




General G. R. Clark 



1777] 



Value of these Claims 



191 



between the Altamaha and St. Mary's rivers (§ 106), really 
gave her a title to all the land south of her charter limits and 
north of the Floridas — as far v/est as the Mississippi River! 




Claims and Cessions 



171. Value of these Claims. — It is impossible to say any- 
thing definite as to the value of these claims. It is probable 
that the claim of Connecticut and that of Massachusetts, as 
far as they rested upon the charter of 169 1, would have been 
recognized as good in law. None of the other claims ap- 
pears to have much weight ; that of Virginia, by conquest, 
was the strongest. But the right of any one state to claim 



Value of 
these claims. 



192 



The Constitution 



[§ 172 



Maryland 
refuses to 
ratify. 



Cessions by 
the states. 
•Winsor's 
America, 
VII, app. i. 



lands conquered by her troops while engaged in the Revolu- 
tionary War could not be defended on grounds of good 
morals, especially as Virginia had seldom fulfilled her mili- 
tary and financial duties to the United States. 

The other states — New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland — could 
advance no claims to western lands by grant from the king, 
by conquest from the British, or by cession from the Indians. 
They contended, however, that if this territory should come 
into the possession of the United States at the conclusion 
of peace with Great Britain, it should be used for the bene- 
fit of the people of all the United States, and not for the 
enrichment of the people of a few states. 

172. The Land Cessions. — The Articles of Confedera- 
tion were very favorable to the interests of the smaller 
states : Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island might 
justly think that they would gain more benefit under the 
Articles than they could hope for from the sale of their 
share of western lands. Pennsylvania, also, was not much 
interested in the question, as she still held thousands of 
acres of unsettled land within her borders. The case of 
Maryland, however, was very different : her soldiers had 
played a gallant part in the defense of the country, al- 
though British armies scarcely touched her soil ; but she 
had no means, save taxation, to pay them for their services. 
Virginia had already set on foot a scheme to reward her 
soldiers by grants of western lands, and Pennsylvania might 
easily do the same from the lands within her borders. 
Maryland had no such resource ; she might well ask if she 
were being treated with justice. She refused to ratify the 
Articles until this great wrong was redressed, and thus 
brought the matter to public notice. Congress declined 
to enter into an examination of the relative merits of the 
several claims, and suggested that all the claimant states 
should cede the lands claimed by them to the United States, 
to be administered in the interests of the whole people. 
New York led the way in making the cession as requested, 



7S4] 



The Land Cessions 



193 



Virginia. 



and Virginia promised to do so on certain conditions. Con- New York, 
fiding in the good will of the other claimant states, Maryland 
withdrew her opposition to the ratification of the Articles of 
Confederation (March, 1781), and they went into force not 
long afterwards. 

One after another the states followed the example set by 
New York and transferred their claims to western lands to 
the United States. 
Virginia (1784) in 
making her grant re- 
served the jurisdiction 
and title to lands in 
Kentucky ; she also 
retained certain lands 
north of the Ohio, 
which had already 
been promised to her 
soldiers. Massachu- 
setts (1785) aban- 
doned all title to lands 
west of Pennsylvania. 
Connecticut (1786) 
ceded the lands 
claimed by her, ex- 
cept a strip one hun- 
dred and twenty miles 
in length lying di- 
rectly west of Penn- 
sylvania : this was 

called the Connecticut or Western Reserve, and the pro- 
ceeds of the lands thus reserved were used for educational 
purposes in Connecticut; in 1800, she ceded her rights of 
jurisdiction in this tract to the United States. South Caro- 
lina (1787) abandoned her claim to a little strip twelve miles 
wide lying just south of North Carolina. North Carolina 
(1790) ceded her claim to jurisdiction over what is now linas and 
Tennessee, but she had already granted away most of the *^°''S'^- 




Daniel Boone 



The Caro- 



194 



The Constitution 



[§ 173 



Ordinance 
of 1787. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 202- 
207;Cooley's 
Michigan ; 
Old Sotith 
Leaflets, Gen. 
Ser. No. 13 ; 
MacDon- 
ald's Docu- 
ments, No. 4. 



land. Finally, in 1802, Georgia followed the other states, 
and ceded her claims to the vast tract between her present 
western boundary and the Mississippi River. Long before 
this, by the treaty of 1783, Great Britain had abandoned her 
right to this whole western region. 

173. The National Domain. — In suggesting that the states 
should transfer their claims to the United States, Congress 
(1780) had also proposed that the western lands should be 
" disposed of for the common benefit and be formed into 
distinct republican states, which shall become members of 
the federal union." Congress and the states seem to have 
agreed to regard this land as national property, to be used 
for national purposes, and its possession by the United States 
as a whole worked powerfully for the continuance of union. 
In the pre-revolutionary days, the crown had the disposal 
of ungranted lands within the empire ; Congress regarded 
itself as the successor to the crown, and accordingly under- 
took the management of the public domain of the United 
States. 

In 1785, after the New York and Virginia cessions, but 
before the Massachusetts and Connecticut cessions, the 
Congress of the Confederation passed an ordinance, or law, 
for the government of the territory north and west of the 
Ohio River. This Ordinance provided for the ultimate 
formation of several new states. When formed, these states 
were to have republican governments and be admitted to 
the Confederation. The Ordinance originally contained a 
clause prohibiting slavery after the year 1800, in the western 
country north of the thirty-first parallel, but this had been 
omitted before the final vote ; its origin may be directly 
traced to Jefferson. Little was done to organize the terri- 
tory under this Ordinance ; but the cession by Connecticut 
(1786) again brought the matter to the attention of Con- 
gress. Meantime, the Ohio Company had been formed in 
New England. It offered to buy a large tract from Con- 
gress and to begin settlement immediately. It also wished 
for the establishment of a strong government in the western 



1787] 



The National Domain 



195 



country. Congress replied by passing the Ordinance of 
1787, the most important piece of general legislation of the 
Confederation epoch. 

This Ordinance applied only to the territory northwest 
of the Ohio and provided for the ultimate formation of from 
three to five states out of that territory. In the first instance, 
Congress was to appoint the governor, judges, and military 
officers of the new territory ; the governor and the judges 



Importance 
of the 
Ordinance. 




From the Columbian Maga2ine, 1786 

were to possess legislative powers, subject to the veto of 
Congress. As soon, however, as the free male inhabitants 
of full age should number five thousand, they should elect 
delegates to a House of Representatives. This body, with 
a governor and council appointed by Congress, formed the 
territorial Assembly. It possessed full legislative power, 
provided the laws were not contrary to certain conditions 
laid down in the Ordinance, and could appoint a delegate to 
Congress, who, however, had no vote in that body. When- 
ever the population should increase to sixty thousand, the 
territory, or a portion of it, might be admitted to the Con- 
federation on a footing of equality with the original states. 
Settlers in this new region were guaranteed civil rights, as. 



196 



The Constitution 



[§ 173 



Importance 
of the 
Ordinance. 



Legality 
of the 
Ordinance. 



for example, the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, trial 
by jury, bail, and moderate fines and punishments ; laws 
impairing the obligation of prior contracts were forbidden, 
education was encouraged, and proper treatment of the 
Indians secured. The three most important provisions of 
the Ordinance are those which provided for the equal dis- 
tribution of the property of persons dying without a will, 
prohibited the molestation of any person on account of 
religion, and forbade slavery absolutely and forever except 
as a punishment for crime, — with a provision for the resto- 
ration of fugitive slaves. 

This Ordinance was in reality a constitution for colonies 
to be planted on the national domain. It provided for 
them colonial governments on terms similar to those which 
the colonists had claimed for themselves before 1776; it 
guaranteed equal civil rights to the settlers ; and promised 
them full political rights as soon as their numbers justified 
an expensive form of government. For the first time in 
modern days, colonists and dwellers in the home land were 
to regard one another as equals. 

As the Unite<l States has acquired new land, territories 
have been organized on this model, with the omission in 
many cases of the clause relating to slavery. The new 
communities formed on the national domain have been 
termed territories and states. The use of these words, with 
the liberality of the policy outlined above, has disguised the 
fact that during the present century the United States has 
been the greatest and most successful colonizing power in 
the world. 

The question of the power of Congress to pass this Ordi- 
nance has given rise to much discussion. Southern writers 
generally have held that it was void and of no effect ; but 
the matter is really of little importance, as the first Congress 
under the Constitution re-enacted it. The precise nature 
of the Ordinance has also been disputed ; but usually it has 
been held that it was in the nature of a contract between 
Congress and the people of the several states, which could 



rysy] 



Social Progress 



197 



not be changed except with the consent of both parties to 
it. 

174. Social Progress, 1780-1789. — The Uberal and en- 
Hghtened provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 were the out- 
come of a great social movement which began before the 
Revohition and continued long after it. Old barriers were 
everywhere swept away. In 1777 the people of Vermont, 
in their constitution, declared against slavery; in 1780 John 
Adams wrote the words of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights, 
which declared that " all men are born free and equal," and 
three years later the Massachusetts Supreme Court interpreted 
this clause to mean that no person could be legally held as 
a slave in that commonwealth; and (1780) Pennsylvania 
adopted a system of gradual emancipation. Indeed, when 
the Constitution went into effect (1788), of all the states 
north of Mason and Dixon's line New York and New Jersey 
alone had not taken measures to free the slaves within their 
limits. During this period (1783-89) all the states except 
South Carolina and Georgia had restricted or abolished the 
slave trade from abroad and from neighboring states. 

Similar progress had been made as to religion. Most of 
the state constitutions declared for complete religious free- 
dom. In many states, however, Roman Catholics were still 
excluded from office, and in Massachusetts the dissenting 
faiths found it practically impossible to obtain the rights 
which the constitution of that state seemed to allow them. 
Laws against the Roman Catholics, which had been on the 
statute books of the colonies since the seventeenth century, 
were repealed, and the Episcopal Church was disestablished 
in Virginia and Maryland. The evangelical faiths were organ- 
ized on a national basis, and bishops were secured by the 
Episcopalians, the Methodists, and the Roman Catholics. 

The conditions on which the franchise was conferred were 
also made more liberal : many states substituted a qualifica- 
tion resting on the payment of a tax for the much higher 
property qualification of the colonial period. Laws to en- 
courage the formation of great estates by giving to the eldest 



Social 

progress, 

1780-89. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 

69-89. 

Slave eman- 
cipation. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 71- 
76. 



Growth 

towards 

religious 

freedom. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 76- 

87. 



The 

franchise 

Hberalized. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 69-71 



198 



The Constitution 



[§ 175 



son of a deceased parent the whole, or the larger part, of the 
property were either greatly modified or entirely repealed. 
In fact, from the point of view of the history of society, this 
period was one of great progress ; in other respects it was 
the most distressful period in the nation's history. 

175. Foreign Relations, 1783-1789. — In the later years of 
the war large quantities of goods had been imported from 
France, Holland, and Spain. These importations continued 
after the peace, and other goods came in from England. 
For the moment, the people had no means of paying for 
a large portion of these. They strove to rebuild their com- 
merce with the foreign and British West Indies. They 
had a good measure of success in this and by 1788 had re- 
covered their commercial position. The British government 
opened the ports of the mother country to American ships 
and American products, but endeavored to close the ports 
of her remaining British American colonies to shipping of the 
United States. Up to 1788, they had not found the means 
to do this effectually, although they had done enough to 
arouse irritation. Under the Articles of Confederation, 
Congress had no power to make counteracting regulations, 
and, having nothing to give in return, could not compel the 
British government even to enter into negotiations for a 
commercial treaty. In all this, the British government 
proceeded in strict accordance with its rights, although the 
inexpediency of its actions is clear ; but in other respects, 
it violated the known rules of international law. The treaty 
of peace of 1783, for instance, required the British to 
evacuate all military posts held by their forces within the 
limits o( the new states, and not to take away private 
property ; but the British authorities refused to hand over 
the posts in the northwest, and declined to make com- 
pensation for slaves taken away at the time of the evacuation 
of Charleston and New York. On the other hand, Great 
Britain had ground for serious complaint against the United 
the treaty required that no legal obstacles should 



States 



be placed in the way of the collection of debts contracted 



1787] Foreign Relations 199 

before the war ; but the states refused to abolish existing 
obstacles and placed new ones in the way of the collection 

of debts by British creditors. Congress had no coercive Weakness 

power: it could only expostulate with the members of the of Congress. 
Confederation and excuse their actions to the British gov- 
ernment as well as it might. 

With Spain also there were several disputes. She refused Relations 

to recognize the thirty-first parallel as the southern boundary ^^^^ Spam, 

of the United States and she maintained that " the Floridas " piske's 

ceded to her by Great Britain in 1783 were the Floridas Critical 
as they had been governed by British officials (§ 106). ^5^" ' . 

The Spanish government was also anxious to do away with Winsor's 

the right of the Americans to the free navigation of the America, 

"y^J J 222 

Mississippi, which now flowed for two hundred miles through ' 
Spanish territory (§ 164); but this matter did not interest 
any large body of the people on the Atlantic seaboard. 
On the other hand, there were many persons who desired 
commercial intercourse with Spain and with the Spanish 
colonies. This privilege the Spanish were willing to grant 
on condition of the abandonment of the free navigation of 
the Mississippi. Congress therefore authorized Jay, who 
represented the nation in foreign affairs, to negotiate a 
treaty on this basis. Even Washington attached slight 
importance to the matter ; Jefferson, however, wrote from 
Paris that such a policy would bring about the separation of 
the Eastern and the Western states. He was right, for the 
protests from Kentucky and Tennessee became so strong 
that the project was abandoned. Foreign relations were 
in this condition when the organization of the government 
under the Constitution gave the United States power to 
make its treaties respected at home and to hamper foreign 
commerce by levying discriminating duties. 

176. Financial Problems, 1783-1786. — Within two years Depreciated 
after the close of the conflict, the pressure of poverty was paper money 
felt throughout the country as it had not been during the jaws." 
progress of the war itself. Business confidence disappeared, 
and in almost every state the debtor class clamored for some 



200 



The Constitution 



[§ 177 



Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
162-176. 



Trevett vs. 
Weeden. 



Shays's 

Rebellion. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 

177-186 ; 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 227- 

231. 



form of repudiation of tlieir debts. They especially de- 
manded the emission of paper money resting on little or no 
foundation save the credit of the state governments. A 
currency of this description was known to depreciate rapidly, 
and one advocate of such a plan proposed to embody a scale 
of depreciation in the act authorizing the printing of the 
bills, — a dollar to be worth four shillings on January i, three 
shillings on April i, and two shillings on July i. In at least 
one state all persons were required to accept paper money 
issued by the state under pain of losing the right to vote 
and a fine of one hundred pounds. Those who owed money 
also demanded the enactment of laws to delay the collection 
of debts — stay laws, as they were termed — and "tender 
laws," which permitted a debtor to offer goods, at certain 
rates, in discharge of his debts. Most of the states, except 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Virginia, yielded to the 
popular clamor and issued large quantities of paper money. 
The most famous legal decision of the Confederation period 
arose in Rhode Island out of the refusal of a butcher named 
Weeden to part with his meat in exchange for paper money 
offered in payment by a would-be purchaser. The latter, 
whose name was Trevett, sued Weeden, and the case came 
before judges who were annually appointed by the legislature. 
They showed dauntless courage. Although entirely depend- 
ent on the legislature which had passed this act, they refused 
to hear the case, thus practically annulling the law. 

177. The Critical Period, 1786, 1787. — The lack of 
business confidence, which was mentioned in the last para- 
graph, was due in great part to a growing determination 
among the people to prevent by force the collection of 
debts by process of law. This led to armed conflicts in 
North Carolina and Massachusetts. In the latter state the 
rebels, led by Daniel Shays and Job Shattuck, prevented 
the judges from holding court in three corners of the state ; 
at one time it seemed as if the state government might be 
overwhelmed. The movement was put down, but the reb- 
els, fleeing to other states, everywhere found shelter. The 



178/ 



Attempts to amend the Articles 



20I 



crisis was so threatening that Congress began to make 
preparations to raise an army, — on account of an Indian 
war, so it was said, but really to intervene in. case the insur- 
rection assumed formidable proportions. In addition to 
these troubles within many of the states, relations between 
them were by no means harmonious. 

One of the greatest obstacles to harmony was the arrange- 
ment whereby each state managed its own commercial 
affairs. Many states sought to protect the interests of their 
own citizens, entirely regardless of the interests of other 
states, and, indeed, sometimes at the cost of their neighbors. 
For instance, New York endeavored to protect her farmers 
against the competition of the agriculturists of New Jersey ; 
and when Massachusetts proposed to pass legislation to pro- 
tect her shipowners and merchants against British competi- 
tion, other New England states at once took measures to 
thwart her to their own advantage. By the end of 1786, 
it was evident that unless something were done radically 
to amend the Articles of Confederation, civil war would 
surely break out. 

178. Attempts to amend the Articles. — Before all the 
states had ratified the Articles of Confederation, their weak- 
ness had been recognized, and an attempt had been made 
to amend them. The first proposition (1781) was to give 
Congress the power to increase the revenues of the general 
government by laying duties on imports to the extent of 
five per cent ad valorem. In the course of a year, twelve 
states assented to the proposition ; but Rhode Island re- 
fused. As the consent of all the states was necessary to an 
amendment (§ 167), the proposition failed of adoption. 
Two years later (1783), Congress suggested that it should 
be given power to levy duties on imports, partly specific 
and partly ad valorem^ the duties to be collected by state 
officials appointed by Congress. Again twelve states as- 
sented to the proposed change, but this time New York 
declined to consent, and this proposition also fell through. 
In fact, all attempts to amend the Articles failed, and Con- 



Selfish 

policy ol 
the states. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 144- 
154- 



Attempt to 
amend the 
..Articles, 
1780-87. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
142, 218. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 28. 



202 



The Constitution 



[§ 179 



Proposals 
for a con- 
stitutional 
convention. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
214-222. 



Alexandria 

Convention, 

1785. 



gress was not able to pay even the everyday expenses of 
the government. The country was rapidly drifting toward 
civil strife, when a convention met at Philadelphia (May, 
1787) to propose a series of changes in the fundamental law 
of the Confederation. The meeting of this convention was 
the result of the labors of a few men, notably of James 
Madison and Alexander Hamilton, and they were greatly 
aided by disputes which had arisen over the commercial 
relations of the states bordering on Chesapeake Bay. 

179. Genesis of the Federal Convention. — Constitutional 
conventions are now part of the ordinary machinery of 
American government ; before 1787 they were hardly known. 
The Massachusetts constitution of 1780 had been framed 
by a convention composed of delegates especially elected 
for that purpose, but all the other state constitutions of the 
Revolutionary period had been the work of legislative bodies 
(§ 145), although some of them had borne the designation 
of conventions. The articles of Confederation had been 
drafted by the Continental Congress and ratified by the 
state legislatures (§ 167). Many suggestions had been 
made for the holding of a general convention to frame a 
new constitution, and Massachusetts, in 1785, had directed 
her delegates in Congress to propose a general revision of 
the Articles. Nothing had come of these suggestions, and 
the Federal Convention was due to entirely different causes. 

The southern boundary of Maryland was the southern bank 
of the Potomac River (§48), but practically all the commerce 
of that river had its origin in Virginia. On the other hand, 
the "capes of the Chesapeake " were both in Virginia, but a 
very large proportion of the shipping which passed in or out 
of the bay was bound to or from Bakimore. It happened also 
that the tariff policies of the two states were very dissimilar. 
In short, there were constant disputes about these matters. 
Several times attempts had been made to adjust these differ- 
ences, but without success. In 1785, commissioners from 
Virginia and Maryland met at Alexandria and adjourned 
their conferences to Washington's mansion of Mount Vernon, 



1787] The Federal Convention 203 

near by. The discussions of the commissioners, among 
whom were James Madison and George Mason, soon ex- 
tended to the desirability of similar tariffs and commercial 
regulations for all the states interested in the navigation of 
Chesapeake Bay and connecting waters. In their report, 
they suggested the appointment of a joint commission every 
second year to consider these topics. The Maryland Assem- 
bly at once fell in with the scheme, and invited Pennsylvania 
and Delaware to appoint commissioners. In Virginia, a 
fierce contest arose : it appeared that the Virginia commis- 
sioners had exceeded their instructions, which they had 
never seen. The matter had gone so far, however, that Vir- 
ginia could hardly draw back ; in the end, she proposed 
that commissioners from all the states should meet at Annapolis 
Annapolis and consider the trade and commerce of the <^onvention, 
United States as a whole. The representatives of only five Schouler's 
states appeared at the opening of this convention (1786), United 
although others were on their way. Instead of waiting for ^f_ "' ' 
them, and proceeding with the business for which the meet- 
ing had been summoned, the delegates present passed a 
resolution providing for another convention to amend the 
Articles of Confederation, to be held at Philadelphia in 
1787. Six states, including Virginia and Pennsylvania, Calling of 

appointed delegates to this new convention before Congress ^^^ Federal 
,,,.., ^ , , , , . Convention, 

could brmg itself to approve the plan and recommend its 

adoption to the states. On the same day that this vote was 
passed, although ignorant of its passage, Massachusetts ap- 
pointed her delegates, and, Congress having spoken, the 
other states, except Rhode Island, fell into line. 

180. The Federal Convention, 1787. — When the members Delegates 
of the convention met for the first time at Philadelphia *o ^^^ 
(May 25, 1787), it was at once apparent that, with few ex- 
ceptions, the strongest men in the United States were there. 
New Hampshire was not represented at the beginning of 
the discussion, Rhode Island was not represented at all, and 
of the Revolutionary leaders, John Adams, Samuel Adams, 
John Jay, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson were not 



204 



The Constitution 



[§i8o 



Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
222-229 ; 
Schouler'i 
United 
States, I, 
39- 



present. With these exceptions, however, the men who had 
shown the greatest abiUty in the management of affairs or in 
knowledge of men were there. The oldest and ablest of 
them was Benjamin Franklin, whose connection with the 
Albany Plan of Union ^ / • • 

(§107) and with the J O^^^i^^ ^^ tU^-t^^^^ 6^ 
formation of the Ar- u 

tides of Confederation has already been described ; he was to 
recognize the critical moment and to suggest a compromise 
which made the adoption of the Constitution a possibility. 

The most prominent figure 
in the assemblage was 
George Washington, who 
was already " first in the 
hearts of his countrymen." 
He was chosen to preside 
over the convention ; his 
name, therefore, seldom 
appears in Madison's 
Notes ; but just before the 
end he made an important 
suggestion, which was at 
once adopted. 'Washing- 
ton and Franklin made few 
speeches, but they exerted 
great influence in smooth- 
ing away differences, and 
their presence was an inspiration to the other members. 
Moreover, their approval of the Constitution in its final form 
gave to the plan a place in the eyes of large masses of the 
people which it otherwise would not have had. In addition 
to Washington, the Virginian delegation contained George 
Mason, James Madison, and Edmund Randolph, and besides 
FrankUn, Pennsylvania was represented by James Wilson, a 
great constitutional lawyer, Robert Morris, the financier of 
the Revolution, and Gouverneur Morris, to whom the Con- 
stitution mainly owes its clear and simple language. Delaware 




Gouverneur Morris 



1787] Nature of the Constitution 205 

sent John Dickinson, who had reported the Articles of Con- 
federation. Connecticut sent her veteran statesman, Roger 
Sherman, who had served in nearly every Congress, Oliver 
Ellsworth, and William S. Johnson. Massachusetts was 
represented by four able and experienced men : Elbridge 
Gerry, Caleb Strong, Nathaniel Gorham, and Rufus King. 
New York sent Alexander Hamilton, New Jersey, Governor 
Patterson, and South Carolina was represented by the two 
Pinckneys and John Rutledge. These were the foremost 
men in that remarkable assemblage, but all the members 
were men of mark, of experience, and of ability. 

The convention met daily, with brief adjournments to 
facilitate the work of committees, until September 17, when 
it finally adjourned. Its discussions 
were secret, and it was not until long ^f^ 
afterwards, when Madison's Notes were ^ ~ 
printed, that the difficulties which surrounded its delibera- 
tions were known. 

181. Nature of the Constitution. — The best way to reach Genesis of 

a thorough knowledge of the nature of the Constitution is to ^^^ ^°"" 

1 T>j- T 1 TIT rr.1 ■ 1 -11 • 1 stitution. 

read Madison s Notes. The student will at once notice the winsor's 

straightforward character of the debates of the convention, America, 

and will be impressed with the patriotism and the good sense yil'237-246; 

1 • 111 *Bryce s 

of Its members. It is surprising to observe how little they comi 




imon- 



relied upon theoretical considerations, and how much they -wealth 
confided in the test of experience. The Constitution is, ^^ ."..^ ''' 

>■ ' chs. Ill, XXV, 

in reality, a most skillful adaptation of the best features xxviii, xxix. 
of the existing state constitutions to the needs of a federa- 
tion. A few things in it were necessarily new, for the 
problem to be settled was new. An historical student 
familiar with colonial history and with the constitutions of 
the Revolutionary epoch can find precedents for nearly all 
its more important features. Instead of having been 
" struck off at a given time from the brain and purpose of 
man," as Mr, Gladstone declared, it was the result of the 
experience of the English race in Britain and in America. 
The idea of a written constitution was not new ; every 



2o6 



Tliz Constitution 



[§182 



Fiske's 

Civil 

Government, 
ch. vii. 



Plans for a 
new Con- 
stitution. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
232-249 ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
41-45. 



colonial government had been regulated in conformity with 
a written document, — a charter or a commission and its 
accompanying instructions. The origin of the Supreme 
Court can be found in the authority exercised by the Privy 
Council in annulling colonial acts which were contrary to 
the fundamental laws and usages of England, to a charter, 
or to a commission. The veto power exercised by the 
President was drawn from the constitution of Massachusetts. 
The idea of the Electoral College was derived from the 
Maryland constitution. There is no more truth in the 
remark of Sir Henry Maine, that the Constitution is " a 
modified version of the British Constitution," than there is 
in the saying of Mr. Gladstone mentioned above. The 
principal new points were the attempt to form a detailed 
written constitution for a federation, and its submission 
to the people for ratification. 

182. The Great Compromises. — It is hardly correct to 
describe the convention as divided into parties ; it is 
true, however, that parties were formed on nearly every 
important question, and that oftentimes the same states 
would group themselves together on several propositions. 
The first division came about at the very beginning, when 
Edmund Randolph, in the name of the Virginia delegation, 
introduced a plan which was mainly the work of Madison 
and had received the sanction of Washington. This scheme, 
known as the Virginia plan, provided for the formation of 
a national government with a legislative body, or Congress, 
of two houses, in both of which representation should be 
based on population ; the scheme also contemplated that 
the executive and judicial officers should be appointed by 
the Congress. This plan would have placed the govern- 
ment in the hands of the larger states, and it was fiercely 
attacked by the delegates from the smaller states. The 
latter, however, were in the minority ; for, as we have seen, 
Rhode Island was never represented at all, and New Hamp- 
shire's representatives did not arrive until July 23. By 
this time the convention had settled many of the main 



1787] 



The Great Compromises 



207 



features of the plan, and the majority of New York's dele- 
gation had retired in disgust at the evident intention 
of the convention to override the wishes of the smaller 
states, — it must be remembered that New York was then 
regarded as one of the smaller states. The representatives 
of these states then supported a scheme brought forward 
by Patterson of New Jersey, and known as the New Jersey 
plan. This provided for the continuance of the existing 
government, but gave Congress power to regulate commerce, 
to raise revenue, and to coerce the states. These were the 
most important schemes presented to the convention ; but 
Hamilton read a plan for a strong centralized government 
in which the states would have little power. He knew that 
such a plan " was very remote from the ideas of the people," 
and offered it only as a statement of his own views on the 
matter. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina also pre- 
sented a plan, which resembled the Virginia scheme in 
general outline but was much more detailed. The contest 
turned on the Virginia and New Jersey plans, and the 
former was adopted as the basis of a new constitution. 
For a time it seemed as if the smaller states would with- 
draw, but finally, through the efforts of Roger Sherman and 
Benjamin Franklin, a compromise was effected which gave 
the states equal representation in the Senate and propor- 
tional representation in the House of Representatives. 

The next question was the apportionment of representa- 
tives in the lower house. Slavery still existed in the South ; 
should slaves, who had no vote, be counted in estimating 
the representation of that section in Congress ? And what 
should be done as to direct taxes, — should these be appor- 
tioned among the states according to their total popula- 
tions, or should the slaves be omitted from this estimate ? 
This matter was finally compromised by providing that both 
representation and direct taxes should be apportioned among 
the states according to a ratio which should be ascertained 
" by adding to the whole number of free persons, including 
those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding 



Compromise 
on repre- 
sentation. 
Fiske's 
Critical 
Period, 
250-253. 

The " federal 

ratio." 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 

256-262 ; 

Old South 

Leaflets, 

Gen.Ser. 

No. 70. 



208 



The Constitution 



[§183 



Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons," namely, 
slaves. This provision was called " the federal ratio," and, 
so far as it related to representation, greatly increased the 
political power of the slave owners. 

The third great compromise also turned on the question 
of slavery : the New Englanders, largely interested in 
commerce, were anxious that Congress should be given 
power to protect American shipping interests against for- 
eign competition by means of discriminating duties, navi- 
gation acts, or other similar measures ; the Southerners, 
fearful lest this power would be used to prohibit the slave 
trade, resisted. The South Carolinians were especially 
sensitive and Rutledge even declared that the question of 
whether " the Southern States shall or shall not be parties 
to the union " depended upon the mode in which this mat- 
ter was arranged. In the end. Congress was given power 
over commerce, but was forbidden to prohibit the slave 
trade before 1808, though it might levy a tax of ten dollars 
on each slave imported. This qualification proved to be 
valueless, as no tax of the kind was ever voted by Congress 
(§ 197). These compromises were on vital points; but 
the element of compromise entered into the settlement of 
nearly every section of the Constitution. It will be well 
now to glance at a few of the leading features of that great 
instrument. 

183. A Government of Checks and Balances. — The only 
way to grasp the real meaning of the Constitution is to 
read it carefully several times and to memorize the more 
important sections of it. An analysis of the document is 
inadequate, for the Constitution is itself only a summary. 
In this section and in those which follow, a few only of the 
more important considerations which have affected its life 
will be stated. 

One of the first things to strike the reader is the 
endeavor of its framers to establish "a government of 
checks and balances." Three great departments are pro- 
vided : the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. 



1787] The Legislative Power 209 

Each is given power to defend itself against the encroach- 
ments of the other two, and each acts as a check on 
the others. The Constitution framers had good reason 
to attempt the accomplishment of this difficult purpose. 
In the old colonial days, which most of them remem- 
bered, the governors of the royal provinces had exercised 
all three functions, greatly to the dissatisfaction of the 
colonists ; and the legislative body of Great Britain had 
held the supreme power. To avoid establishing a govern- 
ment which could develop into either of these forms, the 
framers of the Constitution sought to give each department 
its due share of power, and to prevent any one department 
from making itself supreme. For instance, the executive 
power is vested in the President ; but he also exercises 
important legislative functions in his veto, and judicial 
power in his right to pardon. The legislative power is 
lodged in Congress, but the Senate acts as an advisory 
council to the President, — without its consent no important 
appointment can be made and no tre-aty ratified. The 
judicial power is intrusted to the Supreme Court and in- 
ferior courts ; but, as no law can be enforced which the 
Supreme Court declares to be unconstitutional, the Supreme 
Court, in fact, exercises supreme legislative functions. 
Finally, the House of Representatives, by means of its 
initiative in taxation, exercises a most effectual control over 
the executive department. 

184. The Legislative Power. — The legislative power is The 
confined to certain subjects enumerated in the Constitution, legislative 
and is further restricted by the first ten amendments, *Bryce's 
especially by the tenth, which declares that " the powers Cotnmon- 
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor "^^f^'^ (^bd, 

ed.),chs. 

prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States ix-xx; 
respectively or to the people." The Supreme Court is the Fiskes 
authorized interpreter of the fundamental law, and it has 
construed the Constitution in the broadest possible way. 212-222, 
Following these decisions, Congress has exercised powers, 
many of which were probably never dreamed of by the 
p 



Civil 
Government, 



2IO 



The Constitution 



[§185 



framers of that instrument or by the members of the ratify- 
ing conventions, whose votes gave it the force of law. 
Acts of Congress are " the supreme law of the land," unless 
the Supreme Court declares them unconstitutional, and 
hence null and void. In the exercise of this extensive 
grant of power, Congress can pass no ex post facto laws, but 
the prohibition to enact legislation " impairing the obliga- 
tion of contracts " applies only to the states and does not 
affect the Congress of the United States. 

The states, on the other hand, are forbidden (Art. i, 
§ 10) to enter into negotiations with foreign states, to coin 
money, emit bills of credit, make anything except gold 
and silver a tender in payment of debts, pass any law 
impairing the obligation of contracts, grant titles of nobility, 
lay imposts, — except to secure the enforcement of inspec- 
tion laws, maintain an army or navy in time of peace, or 
engage in war unless actually invaded. 

185. The Supreme Court. — In place of long, detailed 
descriptions of the powers granted, the framers of the 
Constitution used general descriptive phrases and then gave 
Congress (Art. i, § 8) power to pass laws " necessary and 
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, 
and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the 
United States, or in any department or officer thereof" 
Among other things. Congress is authorized "to regulate 
commerce with foreign nations and among the several 
states," and " to lay taxes, duties, imposts, and excises 
to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and 
general welfare of the United States." It must be evident 
to every student that when such general phrases are used in 
the organic law, the body which has the final decision as 
to their meaning possesses the most important and weighty 
functions in the state. This tribunal is the Supreme Court, 
whose members are protected from molestation, as they 
hold their offices during good behavior, and receive salaries 
"which shall not be diminished during their continuance 
m office." The Supreme Court, too, unlike other federal 



1787] The Supreme Court 211 

courts, exists by virtue of the Constitution, and cannot be 
abolished by act of Congress. Its judges, therefore, are 
independent of all men to an extent not known elsewhere. 
The court has no initiative, and is not consulted before the 
passage of a law ; its functions are confined to cases " arising importance 
under the Constitution" ; and it has no common-law crim- oftheinter- 
inal jurisdiction. The Supreme Court has always regarded ^^^ consH- 
the Constitution in the light of a fundamental law, to be tution. 
interpreted according to the mode sanctioned by the law. Wmsors 

'^ ^ r 1 T America, 

Upon these decisions the development of the country has vii, 251- 
depended to a much greater extent than would at first sight 255 ; *Bryce's 
appear. Recurring to the phrases given at the beginning of J""i'f]°",l;^^ 
this section, it will at once be seen that upon the interpre- ed.),chs. 
tation of such a phrase as " commerce between the states," xxu-xxm, 
" Congress shall have power," and " necessary and proper," 
the whole framework of government depends. Does the 
third of these limit the function of Congress to. the pas- 
sage of such laws only as are absolutely essential to the 
carrying out of the powers granted by the Constitution, or 
does the phrase "necessary and proper" mean convenient? 
Does the clause " Congress shall have power to tax " mean 
only that Congress may levy a tax, or does it mean that 
Congress may legislate on any subject connected with taxa- 
tion, for instance, establish a national bank because such 
an establishment conduces to the easy collection of taxes? 
Or, to take another case, does the authority " to regulate 
commerce " mean simply that Congress can secure for the 
commerce of one state free entrance into another state, or 
does it mean that Congress may regulate railway fares and 
determine what kind of couplings for freight cars shall be 
used by railroads which run through more than one state? 
The Supreme Court has generally adopted the broadest 
views on questions of this kind ; and thus has arisen the 
doctrine of "implied powers," conferring on the govern- 
ment of the United States every function which may be 
convenient for the exercise of any power that the Constitu- 
tion has conferred on the general government. 



212 



The Constitution 



[§ iS6 



i86. Political Parties. — Around this question of constitu- 
tional interpretation tliere was waged a political controversy 
which lasted from the formation of the government to the 
outbreak of the Civil War. The party which has been in 
the minority in the country, as a whole, has been strong in 
separate states, and usually has been strong in a group of 
states in some one section. For example, the Republicans 
were predominant in the Southern states in 1798, the Fed- 
eralists, in New England in 1814, and the Democrats, in the 
Southern states in the time of the contest over the extension 
of slavery. The party which has been in a minority for 
any length of time has usually adopted that theory of con- 
stitutional interpretation which would confer on one state 
the right to block the action of the general government. 
The theory on which this interpretation has rested was that 
the Constitution was a " compact " between " sovereign 
states." To protect the rights of the states from invasion, it 
was essential that the Constitution should be strictly con- 
strued to preserve to the states every power not expressly 
conferred by it on the central government. This States' 
rights doctrine was held by the Republicans in 1798 and 
1799 (§ 209), by the New England Federalists in 1814 
(§ 247), by Calhoun and the South Carolinians at the time 
of the nullification episode (§ 282), and by the leaders in 
the secession of 1860-61 (§ 330). 

The party which has controlled the national government 
has generally maintained the opposite doctrine : that the 
Constitution was the framework of a national government 
formed by "the people" of the whole United States acting 
in its sovereign capacity. According to this theory, the Con- 
stitution should be interpreted to give the central govern- 
ment whatever powers were convenient as aids to the 
carrying out of its functions. In this way originated the 
doctrine of implied powers (§ 185). This theory of a liberal 
interpretation of the organic law was held by Hamilton and 
his party at the organization of the government (§ 198), 
by Jefferson when in power (§ 236), by Marshall throughout 



1787] Stability of the Constitution 213 

his long tenure of the chief justiceship (§ 254), by Webster 
in his reply to Hayne (§ 281), and by Lincoln and the Re- 
publican party. 

The wording of the Constitution is indefinite in many 
respects, but this indefiniteness has been far from being a. 
disadvantage. On the contrary, it has proved to be a source 
of strength ; for the Constitution has been capable of in- 
terpretation according to the varying wishes of the people 
and the circumstances of the times. This has contributed 
to the stability of the government, which has been further 
strengthened by the slowness with which new ideas and 
interpretations can be acted upon and by the natural con- 
servatism of the American people. 

187. Stability of the Constitution. — It is true that the Process of 
framers of the Constitution provided a mode by which the amendment, 
instrument might be amended (Art. v) ; but the method 
which they devised for this purpose has proved difficult in 
practice. More than seventeen hundred amendments have 
been proposed in an official manner, but only seventeen have 
become part of the organic law. This number might be 
reduced still further, as the first ten amendments are in the 
nature of a Bill of Rights, and were adopted at one time ; 
three others relate to one subject, and were the outcome of 
the Civil War. If the first ten are regarded as one, and the 
last three also as one, it may be said that the Constitution 
has been changed only five times by process of amendment. 
Furthermore, it is well to note that between 1804 and 1865 
not a single amendment was adopted. 

Another cause which has greatly contributed to bring slowness of 
about this stability, is the slowness with which a political change, 
party can gain control of the machinery of the government, common- 
At the outset, the Federalists, who had secured the adoption wealth (abd. 
of the Constitution, obtained possession of all three depart- ed.),chs. 

\xx xxxiii* 

ments ; the great revolution which occurred in 1800 gave 
the mastery of the executive and the legislative branches to 
the Republicans, but the judiciary remained in the control 
of the Federalists for a generation. The only example of 



214 



The Constitution 



[§187 



a sudden change in the poHcy of all three departments 
occurred in 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, and 
that was caused by the refusal of the Southerners any longer 
to take part in the management of the affairs of the nation. 
This slow movement of the political machinery is due mainly 
to the different terms of office of the executive, of the mem- 
bers of the two houses of Congress, and of the justices of 
the Supreme Court. The last hold their positions for life, 
and as fast as they die or resign, their places are filled by 
the President with the consent of the Senate. The mem- 
bers of the latter body are chosen by the people of the 
several states, and serve for six years — one third retiring 
biennially. The President holds office for four years ; he is 
elected indirectly by the people, but in choosing him the 
people of the smaller states have more influence in propor- 
tion to their numbers than have the voters of the more 
populous states ; this is owing to the fact that in the elec- 
toral college no state has fewer than three votes. More- 
over, when no candidate for the presidency has received a 
majority of all the electoral votes, the choice devolves upon 
the House of Representatives, voting by states. The Pres- 
ident may, therefore, be the choice of a minority of the 
people, and this has happened more than once, as, for ex- 
ample, in 1824. The representatives are chosen for two 
years by the voters of the several states, and their number 
was apportioned among the several states according to " the 
federal ratio" (§ 182) until the adoption of the Thirteenth 
and the Fourteenth amendments abolished slavery, but each 
state, regardless of its population, has at least one represent- 
ative. It will be seen from this brief statement that before 
the Civil War the people of no state were represented in any 
branch of the general government according to population 
or voting strength. And even now, since the adoption of 
the Fourteenth Amendment, they are so represented only in 
one portion of the three great departments. A minority of 
the people, therefore, has frequently controlled the govern- 
ment and directed the policy of the nation. Moreover, it 



1787] The President 215 

has often happened that the President and Congress have 
represented two divergent views of political action. Even 
when this has not been the case, the President and the 
representatives have often stood for one party, while the 
Senate has been in the hands of the other party, and has 
been able to thwart the wishes of a majority of the voters of 
the country. These arrangements have made legislation 
difficult, and have prevented sudden changes; but they have 
contributed most strongly to maintain the stability and 
strength of the government. 

188. The President. — "The President of the United Functions 
States," to use the official title conferred on the chief magis- °^*'^" 

, , ^ . . . ,. . . President. 

trate by the Constitution, occupies a peculiar position among *Brvce's 
rulers of modern times. Representing the whole people and Common- 
all the states as no other man represents them, he enters ™J^'^''^(^. • 

•^ ' ed.), ens. iv- 

upon the discharge of his duties after taking a solemn oath viii, xxiv; 
" to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the F'si<e's 
United States" (Art. ii). In peaceful times, he acts merely Government 
as the chief magistrate of the nation, being obliged to gain 224-240. 
the consent of the Senate to all important appointments 
and to treaties concluded with foreign powers. He is 
otherwise free ; for although- he may consult the heads of 
the great departments, he need not heed their advice. In 
the interpretation of his powers as chief executive and as 
commander in chief of the army and navy, he acts upon his 
own responsibility. It is true that the Senate passed a vote 
of censure on Jackson (§291), but Jackson's reply defend- 
ing the independence of the executive department was con- 
clusive. The Supreme Court has also interfered to control 
the President (§ 290), but it has no power to enforce its 
decisions as against the chief executive. The President can 
be impeached by the House of Representatives and con- 
victed by the Senate, but only for " treason, bribery, or other 
high crimes and misdemeanors," and only with the consent 
of two thirds of the senators present (§ 383). 

In time of war, especially of civil war, the President's 
powers have no limit ; he may exercise functions resem- 



2l6 



The Constitution 



[§189 



End of the 
Convention. 
Old South 
Leaflets, 
Gen. Ser. 
No. I, p. 17; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
61-79. 



Process of 

ratification. 

Fiske's 

Critical 

Period, 

306-345. 



bling those of a dictator. For instance, Lincoln issued 
the Emancipation Proclamation (§ 359) by virtue of these 
"war powers." The President is obliged "to defend the 
Constitution " and to secure the " faithful execution of the 
laws." To attain these objects he may, at his discretion, use 
the whole army and navy of the United States. He can act 
without consultation with any one — unless he so desires — 
and he concerns himself only with the violators of the laws, 
no matter who they may be. 

189. Ratification of the Constitution, 1787,1788. — Con- 
gress had authorized the Federal Convention to propose 
amendments to the Articles of Confederation whose ratifica- 
tion, under the Articles, would require the consent of all the 
thirteen states. The framers of the Constitution had pro- 
ceeded in an entirely different spirit : the first resolution 
adopted by them declared that " a national government ought 
to be established." In submitting the result of their labors to 
Congress, they stated : *' In all our deliberations ... we 
kept steadily in view that which appears to us the greatest 
interest of every true American, the consolidation of our 
Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, 
perhaps our national existence." Furthermore, they pro- 
posed a method of ratification of the new instrument which 
was in itself unconstitutional — according to the Articles — 
and in opposition to the vote of Congress under which they 
had acted : they recommended to Congress that the new 
instrument of government should be voted on by conven- 
tions elected by the people of the several states for this 
express purpose, and that the consent of nine states should 
be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution " be- 
tween the states so ratifying the same." Congress carried 
out the wishes of the convention in this regard, and voted 
(September 28, 1787) to transmit the Constitution "to the 
several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a conven- 
tion of delegates chosen in each state by the people 
thereof." It is important to note this process in detail, 
as the Constitution begins with the words : " We the people 



[788] 



Ratification of the Constitution 



217 



the Articles 
of Confeder- 
ation. 



of the United States, ... do ordain and establish this Con- 
stitution." But what does the phrase " We, the people of 
the United States," signify? On the one hand, it has been 
maintained that the state conventions were used merely as 
a convenient means for ascertaining the will of the people 
of the United States as a whole ; on the other hand, it has 
been urged that the people of the several states, each sov- 
ereign in itself, ratified the Constitution. If this latter were 
the correct view, it would necessarily follow that a state 
which had acceded to the Constitution could withdraw from 
the new union by simply holding another convention and 
repealing the ratifying ordinance. 

Another point to which attention should especially be Breach of 
called is the fact that the mode of ratification was contrary 
to the existing constitution, — the Articles of Confederation, 
— which required the consent of the legislatures of all the 
states to its amendment. Yet now (1789) eleven states, or 
" the people of the United States " living in eleven states, 
by ratifying the Constitution formed a new union, and left 
the two hesitating states to get along as well as they could. 
Bearing all these facts in mind, it is to a study of the debates 
of the ratifying conventions that the student must turn to ob- 
tain a true conception of the intentions of the makers of the 
organic law. "The Constitution," said Madison in 1796, 
" as it came from the convention was nothing more than the 
draft of a plan ; nothing but a dead letter, until life and 
validity were breathed into it by the voice of the people 
speaking through the several state conventions which ac- 
cepted and ratified it." 

Between December, 1787, and June, 1788, ten states rati- 
fied the Constitution ; New York followed in July, and only 
Rhode Island and North Carolina had not ratified at the 
time of Washington's inauguration. The period extending 
from the publication of the report of the convention to the 
ratification of New Hampshire and Virginia, the ninth and 
tenth states (June, 1788), was one of the most critical and 
momentous in the history of America. The friends of the 



2l8 



The Constitution 



[§189 



Opposition 
to ratifica- 
tion. Win- 
sor's Amer- 
ica,VU, 
247-251. 



Constitution termed themselves Federalists, and called their 
opponents Anti-Federalists ; but these terms hardly described 
the positions of the contending parties. Patrick Henry was 
probably the ablest opponent of ratification ; he declared 
hiiliself to be in favor of a federal form of government, and 
objected to the proposed Constitution because it would es- 
tabhsh " one great, consolidated, national government of all 




Stratford House, Westmoreland, Virginia. Birthplace of R. H. Lee 

the people of the states." Other honest, high-minded, and 
patriotic men opposed ratification because they desired a 
more democratic form of government than the one proposed 
by the Convention. Another most weighty objection to the 
scheme lay in the omission of any clear statement of the 
rights of the people. The question at issue, however, was 
the acceptance of the proposed Constitution, or anarchy and 
civil war. It was absolutely necessary to ratify the Constitu- 
tion as it stood ; but those opposed to it were, in a measure, 
satisfied by the suggestion of amendments which might be 
made as soon as the new government should be organized. 



1788] 



Ratification of the Constitution 



219 



The government was no sooner organized than Congress Amend- 
put such of these suggestions as it approved into the form mentsofthe 

r 1 1- , , -^1,1 Constitution. 

01 ten amendments, which were promptly ratified and de- 
clared in force, November, 1791. These amendments pro- 
vide that (Art. ix) " the enumeration in the Constitution of 
certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage . 
others retained by the people," and (Art. x) that "powers 
not delegated to the 
United States, . . . 
nor prohibited by it 
to the States, are re- 
served to the States 
or to the people." 
The other eight 
amendments provide 
for the separation of 
church and state, pro- 
tect the freedom of 
the press and of pe- 
tition, guarantee trial 
by jury, and, in gen- 
eral, provide the safe- 
guards for personal 
liberty which are to 
be found in the Bills 
of Rights of the 
Revolutionary epoch. 

Had these amendments been part of the Constitution Importance 
when it was laid before the ratifying conventions, they 
would have gone far to remove the objections of men like 
Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams. Their importance 
can hardly be overestimated, and it should always be care- 
fully borne in mind that the Constitution, as originally 
framed by the Federal Convention, was practically never in 
operation. 

Alexander Hamilton had slight confidence in the efficacy 
of the Constitution to provide a stable government for the 




Richard Henry Lee 



of the first 
ten amend- 
ments. 



220 



The Constitution 



[§189 



Extracts in 
Old South 
Leaflets, V, 
No. 7, Gen. 
Ser. No. 12. 
0/t^ South 
Leaflets, V, 
No. 6. 



country ; but he recognized that it was the only organic law 
which could be established and that it was far better than 
the Articles of Confederation. He, therefore, used all his 
influence and his great talents to secure its adoption. As 
one means of instructing public opinion, he wrote a series 
of articles which were printed in the newspapers under an 
assumed name. These, with a few others from the pens 
of John Jay and James Madison, were afterwards gathered 
into a volume entitled the Federalist. This treatise is to- 
day the best commentary on the Constitution and should be 
studied by all who desire to have a thorough understanding 
of its provisions. The best statement of the views of the 
opponents of ratification were the Letters of a Federalist 
Farmer, by Richard Henry Lee, and the speeches of Pat- 
rick Henry in the Virginia Ratifying Convention. For 
many years, it was customary for historical writers to ridi- 
cule the arguments put forward by Patrick Henry, R. H. 
Lee, George Mason, Samuel Adams, and George Clinton. 
More recently, there has been a disposition to study the history 
of this memorable epoch in a fairer spirit, and to do justice 
to the patriotism and ability of these leaders of public opinion. 
The Constitution has proved deficient in a few respects : 
for instance, it contains no provision to enable the general 
government to acquire new territory. Many writers have de- 
plored the concessions which were made to the slave owners ; 
but the great difficulties of the time in dealing with that 
grave problem should be remembered. When all has been 
said, however, the Constitution remains the most marvellous 
written political instrument that has ever been made. It 
was designed by men familiar with the mode of life of 
the eighteenth century, to provide an escape from the evil 
conditions of that time, and to furnish a practicable form of 
government for four miUions of human beings inhabiting the 
fringe of a continent. It has proved, with few exceptions, 
sufficient for the government of ninety millions, living in 
forty-eight states, covering an area imperial in extent, and 
under circumstances unthought of in 1787. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 221 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND 'TOPICS 

§ 166. Nationalism and Particularism 

a. Define nationalism; distinguish it from the principle of nation- 
ality; define particularism. 

d. Methods of representation : distinguish between local represen- 
tation, national representation, representation according to population; 
give arguments for and against each method. 

§§ 167-169. The Articles of Confederation 

a. Discussion of the text : Arts, i, ii, iii. Discuss minutely the 
phraseology of the title and the first three articles as to the bearing of 
their significant words and provisions upon nationalism; compare with 
the Declaration of Independence and with the Constitution. 

Article V. State objections to one national legislative house and 
prove their validity; to annual elections to such a legislative body; to 
payment of its members by the states individually. 

Article VIII. What provision fatal to federal authority does this 
article contain? Prove your answer. 

d. Collect the matter of the articles under the following heads and 
compare it with similar matter in the Constitution : Form of govern- 
ment (territory, finance, commerce, foreign relations, peace and war, 
enforcement of laws). Division of power between federal and state 
authority. Express limitations, prohibitions, and obligations. 

c. Recite the clauses of the Constitution which remedy the defects 
of Arts, ii and ix, of v, of vi, of viii, of xiii. 

§§ 170-173. The Public Domain 

a. Point out the peculiar hardships of Maryland's position, and 
comment upon her conduct. 

d. What two principles enunciated by Congress in 1780 became the 
foundation of the territorial system of the United States ? 

§ 174. Social Progress 

a. Describe and give arguments in favor of the freehold qualifica- 
tion for suffrage. Discuss as basis for suffrage : property, education, 
manhood, birth. What restrictions upon suffrage exist to-day in your 
state? in your city or town? 

§§ 175-178. Foreign and Domestic Affairs 

a. Pick out the clauses in the Articles which prevented Congress 
from making " counteracting regulations." 



222 The Constitution 

b. Place in note-book as headings: "Secession," "Theory of 
States' Rights," " National Theory," and enter under each all fitting 
material. 

c. Quote the clauses of the Constitution which " gave the United 
States power to make its treaties respected at home and to hamper 
foreign commerce by levying discriminating duties." Why should we 
not levy discriminating duties to-day ? 

d. Look up Gresham's Law and illustrate it by matter in § 176. 
Can a legislative body fix the value of money ? Look up the history 
of the French assignats. 

e. Draw a parallel between the condition of the United States in 
1783-86 and in 1893-96 under the following heads: uncertain standard 
of value, movement of the currency medium, resulting condition of 
currency, effects upon confidence, decision of the people. 

f. Enumerate the reasons for which the years 1786, 1787, are called 
"The Critical Period." Which was the most important? Why ? 

§§ 179, 180. The Federal Convention 

a. Put as heading in note-book, " Influence of Commercial Ques- 
tions in shaping the History of the United States " ; review colonial 
history and enter all fitting matter; as you advance make new entries. 

§§ 181-1S9. The Constitution 

a. Read the Constitution sentence by sentence and try to find in 
your knowledge of colonial history and of colonial documents prece- 
dents for each provision. 

b. Enter in note-book as three separate heads the Three Compro- 
mises of the Constitution and trace their history as you advance. What 
amendments affect these compromises, and how ? Had the first com- 
promise any good points except making federation possible ? Do you 
think that compromise makes a good foundation for a government ? 

c. What is meant by a " government of checks and balances " ? 
Point out the checks and balances of the Constitution; note especially 
how far participation of power as well as division of power exists. 

d. What are the joint powers and privileges of the two Houses ? 
What the special powers of each House ? 

e. Point out in what respects the Supreme Court has an authority 
undreamed of in the ancient world and unrivaled in the modern world. 
How is it given control and guarded from interference? How is the 
authority of the Court maintained? What is its weak point? Explain 
in what respects the decisions of the Supreme Court have aided in the 
development of the United States. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 223 

/. Put in note-book as heading, " Minority Control of Government "; 
enter instances with explanations as you proceed. 

g. What is the present ratio of representation to population? What 
states at present have a smaller population than is expressed in the 
ratio? What effect upon our development has their representation? 

/i. In how many respects were the acts of the Federal Convention 
revolutionary? 

i. Who ratified the Constitution, each state singly or the people 
acting for convenience in groups? 

J. Draw an imaginary picture of results if the North had not com- 
promised on slaveiy. Can you justify the action of the North? 

Historical Geography 

a. Represent upon an Outline Map the western claims and the 
actual cessions to the United States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. 

fi. Make any necessary changes in the map of your state. 

c. Explain by recitation the map and changes you have made. 

General Questions 

a. Has the Constitution established a federal government or a 
national government? 

i. Distinguish between " inherent," " delegated," and " implied " 
powers and tell when each kind exists. 

c. Point out in the Constitution the powers "delegated," "prohib- 
ited," or " reserved." 

c/. Which country, the United States or Great Britain, has the more 
conservative constitution? Why? 

e. Our self-control in allowing laws made by representative bodies 
to be annulled by the Supreme Court has been much admired : how 
do you account for this self-control? 

• Topics for Investigation 

(See directions under this head at end of Chapter I.) 

a. Compare Franklin's Plan with the Albany Plan and with the 
Constitution (§§ 167, 107, 183). 

d. Compare the Articles of Confederation with the other plans and 
with the Constitution. 

c. Make a topical analysis of. the Articles; do the same with the 
Constitution. 

d. Make a topical analysis of the Ordinance of 1787; note espe- 
cially points of resemblance to the Constitution (§ 173). 



224 The Constitution 

e. Make a topical analysis of the several attempts to amend the 
Articles (§ 178). 

/ Compare the arguments of Madison and of Henry (§ 189). 

g. Show how far the Constitution meets the requirements of Wash- 
ington's letter to the governors (§§ 165, 183). 



As preparation for the next chapter study the lives of Washington, 
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, under the 
following heads: personal appearance, temperament, mental endow- 
ments, moral nature, social position, political principles, popular 
regard, influence in shaping United States history. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1 789-1 800 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's ^wc;-?Vrt« Poli/ics, i()-^^ ; Hig. 
ginson's Larger History, 309-344 ; Hart's Formation of the Union, 
141-175 ; Walker's Making 0/ the Nation, 73-167. 

Special Accounts. — Wilson's Presidents; Lodge's Washington; 
Sumner's Hamilton; Sc\\o\x\eT''s Jefferson ; Pellew's y^?j / * Mc Mas- 
ter's United States ; Schouler's United States ; * Von Hoist's Consti- 
tutional History ; Bassett's Federal System ; Stanvvood's Presidency ; 
* Taussig's Tariff History; Larned's History for Ready Reference. 
Larger biographies of the leading statesmen, Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — Cooper and Fenton, American Politics; American His- 
tory Leaflets ; Johnston's American Orations ; Old South Leaflets ; 
Stednian and Hutchinson, Library of American Literature; Mac- 
Donald's Documentary Source Book; Benton's Abridgment; Wil- 
liams's Statesman^ s Manual. Writings of the leading statesmen, Guide, 
§§ 46, 47- 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, 176-185. 

Illustrative Material. — A. L. Lowell's Essays on Gorier nment ; 
Upham's Timothy Pickering; Austin's Gerry ; Flanders's Chief Jus- 
tices ; Sullivan's Familiar Letters; Maclay's Journal; J. Adams's 
Diary; Shaler's Kentucky ; Drake's Making of the IVest ; Roose- 
velt's Winning of the West; Americafi History told by Contemporaries, 

Brackenridge's Modern Chivalry ; Brown's Arthur Mervyn; Cooke's 
Leather Stocking and Silk ; Kennedy's Sivallozv Barn; Arlo Bates's 
Old Salem ; " A Girl's Life Eighty Years Ago " in Scribner^s Magazine, 
May, 1887 ; Goodrich's Recollections of a Lifetime ; Gayarre's Atibert 
Dubayet. 

THE FEDERALIST SUPREMACY, 1789- 1800 

190. Washington elected President. — The Federal Con- Diiatoriness 
vention made its report to Congress in September, 1787, and of Congress, 
the ninth state, New Hampshire, voted to ratify the Con- 
Q 225 



2 26 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 



191 



Adams and 

Hamilton. 

Schouler's 

United 

•^fates, I, 

So-82. 



stitution on June 21, 1788 ; but it was not until April 30, 
1789, that George Washington took the oath of ofifice as 
first President of the United States. The Congress of the 
Confederation had set an earlier date, March 4, for the 
inauguration ; but the men of that day were accustomed to 
being late. It was not until another month had passed away 
that a quorum of both houses of the first Congress under the 
Constitution was in attendance to count the electoral ballots, 
and ascertain the choice of the electors for President and 
Vice-President. 

No one had the slightest doubt as to the fittest man for 
the presidency ; every elector voted for Washington. That 
great man was now in his fifty-eighth year. One of the 
richest men in America and the foremost leader of the Vir- 
ginia aristocracy, he represented the best elements in Ameri- 
can society of that time ; for the framework of society was 
still aristocratic, although the tendency was distinctly toward 
democracy. In politics, Washington can scarcely be said to 
have belonged to any party at this time. He had entered 
most heartily into the plan for the formation of a national 
government ; but he was not a man to think deeply on theo- 
ries of government. He was rather a man of action and an 
administrator. The necessity of the hour was a stronger 
central government : to attain that important object, Wash- 
ington was anxious to use every proper means at his com- 
mand and to employ the services of leading men of all 
shades of political belief. 

iQi- John Adams elected Vice-President. — For second 
place there was no such unanimity of opinion as in the case 
of Washington. The foremost candidate was John Adams 
of Massachusetts. He had been one of the leaders in the 
earlier days of the Revolution, and had later represented 
the United States abroad, especially in England. Unfor- 
tunately, he had written a book in which, among other 
things, he suggested that " the rich, the well-born, and the 
able," should be set apart from other men in a Senate. 
The proposal to elevate " the rich " and " the able " did not 



1789] Political Tendencies 227 

arouse much opposition ; but the use of the phrase " the 
well-born " greatly injured Adams's popularity. As the Con- 
stitution then stood, each elector voted for two persons with- 
out stating which of them he wished to be President. The 
one who received most votes should be President, provided 
he received a majority ; the person receiving the next high- 
est number should be Vice-President. The elevation of "the 
well-born" would J / a 

have been most wel- J /t-^ /Yl H /r /T/Yy) A 
come to Alexander /I (] fU/ ^ Uyu/^'U) 
Hamilton ; but he (^ 

conceived the idea that Adams might receive more votes 
than Washington, and intrigued to prevent it. The scheme 
became known to Adams, and proved to be the beginning 
of a long and unfortunate quarrel, which had most serious 
consequences for the party of which Adams and Hamilton 
soon became the chiefs. 

192. Political Tendencies, 1789. — There were no political Political 
parties in the United States in 1789 ; but the political leaders 
and the voters were divided in precisely the manner in 
which they had been during the contest over the ratifi- 
cation of the Constitution. No sooner was the task of 
reorganization begun than these different views showed 
themselves. Two men were soon recognized as the leaders 
of these opposing camps, and may be considered as rep- 
resenting in their own persons the ideas that were held by 
the two political parties in the earlier portion of our history 
under the Constitution. The first of these tendencies ex- 
pressed itself in the desire to promote the welfare of the 
individual, to give him greater political power, more com- 
forts in life, greater intelligence, and in general to raise 
the more ignorant and ruder portion of society. The second 
declared itself in the wish to make the welfare of the indi- 
vidual depend on the growth of the nation and to rely for 
support on " the well-born," the intelligent, and the richer 
portion of the community. With the former of these 
tendencies was identified Thomas Jefferson, Washington's 



tendencies. 



228 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ IQ2 



Thomas 

Jefferson. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

I, 189; 

*Morse's 

Jefferson. 



Secretary of State ; with the latter, Alexander Hamilton, 
Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. 

Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Sutnniary View and 
the Declaration of Independence and representative of the 
United States in France, was now in the prime of life. 
In many ways he was one of the most extraordinary men 
America has produced. An aristocrat by birth and breed- 







|:isliri I ft I % 




\tfzZ 




Monticello, Jefferson's mansior 

ing, the owner of slaves, and the designer of and dweller in 
one of the most elegant mansions of that day, he was the 
leader of democracy, the champion of the rights of man, and 
the persistent, though powerless, advocate of slave eman- 
cipation. When President, he seemed to enjoy shocking 
the prejudices of very particular persons : Washington had 
established stately ceremonials, Jefferson conducted official 
gatherings on the principle of " pell-mell " — each guest 
doing pretty much as he pleased ; Washington had driven 
in coach and four to and from the halls of Congress, Jeffer- 



tySg] 



Political Tendencies 



229 



son rode on horseback, unattended, from the White House 
to the Capitol and hitched his horse with his own hands in 
a neighboring shed. More curious still, Jefferson, a man of 
unpractical ideas, was the shrewdest political leader of his 
day. Shy, reluctant to attend crowded meetings, and with- 
out magnetism, he led the masses and won the greatest 
popularity in one of the most difficult periods of our history. 
In person Jefferson was tall, six feet two inches in height, 
with sandy hair and a most sunny countenance. He was 
ungainly in figure and seemed always " to be jumping out 
of his clothes," and he sat or reclined on one hip 'in a 
manner which impressed at least one keen observer who 
has described him. 

Unlike Jefferson in every respect, Alexander Hamilton was Alexander 
small in stature and was always well-dressed. A great ad- 
ministrator and capable of attracting men by his personal 
qualities, he led his party to a most crushing defeat. His 
success in organizing the machinery of the government en- 
titles him to the gratitude of the nation, and the part he 
played in securing the ratification of the Constitution gives 
him a fore'most place in the annals of the United States. He 
deserves the more credit for this, perhaps, because he had 
no faith that the new Constitution would provide a sufficient 
government for the country. In 1802 he wrote: "Perhaps 
no man . . . has sacrificed or done more for the present 
Constitution than myself; and, contrary to all my anticipa- 
tions of its fate ... I am still laboring to prop the frail 
and worthless fabric. . . . Every day proves to me more 
and more this American world was not made for me." In 
these sentences may be found the reason for the political 
failure of Hamilton and his friends. He had no sympathy 
with the desires of the masses for self-improvement. He 
had no confidence in their ability to conduct successfully 
the affairs of the country. In one noted phrase he stated 
the reason of his failure as a political chief. It was at 
a dinner when, replying to some remark that had been 
made, Hamilton declared : " Sir, your people is a great 



Hamilton. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

I, 186; 

Sumner's 

Hamilton. 



230 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 193 



Washing- 
ton's inaugu- 
ration, 1789. 
Schouler's 
United 
Stales, I, 
84-90; 
Old Sout/i 
Leaflets, V. 
No. 8, Gen. 
Ser. No. 10. 



Fears of 

monarchical 

tendencies. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

126-140. 



beast." But it was the people that must govern under the 
Constitution, or republican government was a failure. Far 
otherwise was Jefferson's view of the people. In a letter 
written in 1787 he said: "I am persuaded that the good 
sense of the people will always be found the best army. 
They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct 
themselves." The Federalist party endeavored so to frame 
the governmental machinery that a minority of the people 
could govern the majority ; the attempt ended in disaster. 

193. Washington's Inauguration, 1789. — Washington 
" bade adieu," to use his own words, " to Mount Vernon, to 
private life, and to domestic felicity ; and with a mind op- 
pressed with more anxious and painful sensations than I have 
words to express," set out for New York to take the oath 
of office as the first President of the United States. The 
cheers which greeted him on his journey did not lessen his 
sense of the deep responsibilities which surrounded him. 
His inaugural was especially solemn : he addressed " fer- 
vent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over 
the universe . . . that His benediction may consecrate to 
the liberties and happiness of the people of the United 
States, a government instituted by themselves, . . . and 
may enable every instrument employed in its administration 
to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge." 

Colonial customs and traditions derived from English 
precedents were still the rule. Washington, inclined to 
be stiff and formal, instituted a rigid ceremoniousness in 
official intercourse which seemed little like republicanism. 
During the recesses of Congress, he traveled around the 
country in an almost regal fashion. Everywhere he was 
enthusiastically received : at one place he was greeted 
with " God bless your reign " ; at another he was hailed 
as " Columbia's Savior." At Boston, however, John Han- 
cock, governor of Massachusetts, endeavored to uphold the 
dogma of state sovereignty by refusing to make the first call j 
but usually the stiffest Anti-FederaHsts forgot their consti- 
tutional scruples and heartily joined to do honor to " The 




George Washington 
After a mask made from the living face, 1785 



231 



232 



The Federalist Supremacy 



t§ 194 



President." All these things, however, when coupled with 
Hamilton's well-known predilection for a government mod- 
eled on that of Great Britain in the days of the unreformed 
Parliament, convinced many men that the restoration of the 
monarchical form was the aim of the Federalists. Probably 
the charge was not true in any case. 

194. Organization of the Government. — On April 8, weeks 
before Washington took the oath of office, Madison intro- 




A room at Mount Vernon 

duced a resolution in the House of Representatives which 
led to the first debate upon protection, and finally to 
the formation of the first tariff act. This law, which Wash- 
mgton signed shortly after the inauguration, proved insuffi- 
cient to provide the necessary funds, and the rates were 
increased in 1 790 and again in 1 792. A Tonnage Act, which 
was passed at about the same time, provided for a discrimi- 
nation in favor of goods imported in American vessels and 



[789] 



Organization of the Government 



233 



excluded foreign vessels from the coastwise trade. It was 
further suggested that vessels flying the flags of nations not 
having commercial treaties with the United States should be 
taxed more heavily than vessels belonging to more friendly 
countries. This biU was aimed especially at the foreign 
shipping interest ; but the influence of merchants engaged 
in commerce with Great Britain was exerted to defeat the 
proposal, and the attempt was abandoned. 

Congress then turned its attention to the organization of 
the new government. Five administrative departments were 
created : the state departiiient, which at first had to do with 
both home and foreign affairs ; the treasury ; the war depart- 
ment, which also managed the trifling naval affairs for the 
next few years ; the department of justice, at the head of 
which was the Attorney-General ; and the post office. The 
heads of these departments were appointed by the President 
with the consent of the Senate, but they were removable by 
him without action by the Senate (see § 188) ; it had been 
proposed to make the Secretary of the Treasury responsible 
to Congress, but this proposal had been abandoned. The 
first four of these departmental heads acted as the Presi- 
dent's advisers ; the Postmaster-General remaining for the 
present outside of what was termed the cabinet. In thinking 
of this organization and using the words " advisers " and 
"cabinet," the student should always carefully bear in mind 
that the President is not obliged in the smallest degree to 
follow their advice or even to ask it. Congress further 
made provision for the appointment of collectors of the 
customs, district attorneys, and other officials to carry on 
the business of the government. 

Congress also provided for the organization of the 
Judiciary. The Supreme Court comprised a Chief Justice 
and five Associate Justices, and thirteen district courts 
were established. Between the district courts and the 
Supreme Court were the circuit courts, three in number ; 
they were held by justices of the Supreme Court and the 
judges of the district courts. Provision was made for 



Executive 

departments 

organized. 

Scliouler's 

Uiiited 

States, I, 

103-106. 



The 

Judiciary 

organized. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 1, 107. 



234 



The Federalist Supremacy 



t§ 195 



the appointment of the necessary ofificials, as marshals, 
who held office for four years ; in this latter enactment, 
some students see the germ of the spoils system which was 
later developed by the extension of this Hmited tenure of 
office to all of the less important positions in the executive 
branch (§ 280). 

195. Hamilton's Financial Measures. — In January, 1 790, 
Hamilton, the new Secretary of the Treasury, presented to 
Congress an elaborate report on the public credit, which 

should be carefully 
studied by all who 
desire to understand 
Hamilton's clear in- 
sight into financial 
matters, and to ap- 
preciate, at their full 
k" --^W^^^^^^^^^M value, the great serv- 

"^ ^^^^^^^^^m ices he rendered to 
\ ""^^■^^^^^H ^'^ adopted country. 
s^^^^^ , ^^^^^^^H ^^ appeared that the 
flMJliTrii ' i^^^^B^^BJ United States, as 

Mrs. Alexander Hamilton ^^e SUCCesSOr of the 

Confederation, owed 
about fifty-four million dollars in principal and accrued but 
unpaid interest. Eleven millions of this was owed abroad. 
As to this portion, which was generally termed the " foreign 
debt," all agreed with the secretary that it should be paid in 
full according to the terms of the original contracts. As to 
the larger portion, which was owed to citizens of the United 
States, — the "domestic debt," as it was called, — there 
was no such unanimity of opinion. There had been hardly 
any market at all for these obligations ; holders had been 
fortunate to sell their holdings at one fifth of the face value. 
Hamilton proposed to fund this part of the debt at par ; but 
to this proposal there was much opposition. It was argued 
that this arrangement would be unjust to the original holders 
of these certificates who had received them in payment for 




i-jgo] 



Hamilton's Financial Measures 



23 s 



supplies furnished to the Revolutionary armies, or for services 
rendered to the country at the time of its greatest need. 
Madison suggested that the present holders should be paid 
the highest market price for their certificates, and that the 
difference between that amount and the face value of the 
bonds should be paid 
to the original hold- 
ers. Hamilton in- 
sisted, however, that 
to secure the credit 
of the new govern- 
ment it was essential 
that the full face value 
of the certificates 
should be paid to 
those who possessed 
the legal title. This 
was sound practical 
sense, and Hamilton's 
plan was adopted. 
A further part of 
the secretary's scheme 
provided that the 
United States should 

assume and fund, as a part of its own debt, certain por- Assumption 
tions of the debts of the several states. On this question, o^ state 
however, the interests of the North and of the South were schouier's 
different, as, for one reason or another, the Northern states united 
were burdened with much larger debts than were the 
Southern states. The measure commended itself to Ham- 
ilton and to those who thought with him, because its car- 
rying out would interest a large number of persons in the 
stability of the new government, and would compel the 
United States to exercise extensive powers of taxation ; but 
this centralization of power was dishked by those who 
viewed with jealousy the subordination of the states to 
the federal government. North Carolina ratified the 



1 




'^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 


I 


WB\ 


'i^^^H^^I 


p 


^^ 




fc 


jy 




Kh 




'''l^^^^l 


HHBj 


i^'*'''^&^ > ' ' 




BH 






hH 


W^^^Bf*^*' M 




HH 


Mi||i|pi i^jB 




■ 






1 







Alexander Hamilton 



Sfates, I, 
149-152. 



236 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§196 



Site of the 

federal 

capital. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

152-154- 



Constitution in November, 1789, her representatives took 
their seats in Congress in time to vote against the pro- 
ject, and it was defeated by a small majority (April, 
1790). The issue now became bound up with the de- 
cision of another question, — the permanent seat of the 
national capital. 

196. The National Capital and Assumption. — Toward 
the close of the Revolutionary War three hundred Pennsyl- 
vania soldiers had surrounded the building in which Con- 
gress held its sessions, and demanded the immediate redress 
of their grievances. The executive council of Pennsylvania 
was appealed to, and declined to interfere to protect Con- 
gress from annoyance. It was largely owing to this that 
the framers of the Constitution inserted a provision in that 
instrument which gave the federal government complete 
control over a district ten miles square, within which a 
national capitol and other buildings might be erected. 
The question of the precise location of this small district 
does not appear to be a matter of much importance in these 
days of rapid transit. In 1 790, however, the Potomac was, 
to all intents and purposes, as far from Boston as San Fran- 
cisco is nowadays and Philadelphia was much more inac- 
cessible to the South Carolinian than Denver is at the 
present time. The Southern members of Congress were 
anxious to have the permanent seat of government on the 
Potomac, and the Pennsylvanians were equally desirous 
that Philadelphia should be the temporary seat of govern- 
ment while the necessary buildings were in the process of 
construction on the Potomac. Many Northern members, 
who had slight interest in this matter, were deeply con- 
cerned in the success of the project of assumption of the 
state debts ; they believed that the Pennsylvanians, who 
had voted against the latter measure, had made a bargain 
of some kind with the Southerners. The friends of assump- 
tion, therefore, procured the insertion of Baltirnore instead 
of Philadelphia as the site of the temporary capital, and 
this bill came to a sudden stop. 



i-jgo] 



The First Slavery Debates 



237 



It was at this time that Jefferson lent his aid to the suc- 
cessful prosecution of a scheme, the recollection of which 
annoyed him ever after : he yielded to a suggestion of 
Hamilton's that they should bring about a compromise, 
and induced enough Southern members to vote for assump- 
tion to carry that measure, while Hamilton, on his part, 
procured enough Northern votes to pass the Potomac- 
Philadelphia bill. The Assumption Act, in its final form, 
was a much less satisfactory measure than Hamilton's orig- 
inal plan. The latter had provided for the assumption of 
balances of the debt of each state after the sum due by the 
states to the United States had been ascertained ; the law, as 
passed, provided, however, for the assumption of a certain 
part of state debts mentioned in the act ; in some cases 
it turned out that the amount thus assumed was much too 
large. 

197. The First Slavery Debates, 1789, 1790 The years 

between the close of the Revolutionary War and the forma- 
tion of the government under the Constitution saw the 
abolition of slavery in several Northern states and the 
formation of plans for gradual emancipation in others 
(§ 1 74) ; it may truthfully be said that the Northerners were 
opposed to the perpetuation of slavery, although it should 
also be stated that the intensity of this feeling varied greatly 
in different parts of the North. Many of the leaders of 
Virginia — as Washington, Jefferson, and Mason — shared 
in this opinion. South of the Old Dominion, the case was 
widely different. The South Carolinians had threatened 
to stay out of the Union unless their demands as to slavery 
and the slave trade were complied with (§ 182), and the 
North Carolinians, in ceding their claims to western lands 
to the United States (1790), stipulated that Congress should 
make no laws affecting slavery in the territory thus ceded. 

The first slavery debate in Congress arose on the motion 
of a representative from Virginia that the constitutional tax 
of ten dollars per head should be levied on all slaves 
imported into the country. The representatives of the 



Hamilton's 

compromise 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

154-156. 



Slavery 

debates, 

1789-90. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

156-163. 



Proposal to 
tax imported 
slaves, 1789. 



238 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 197 



Antislavery 

petitions, 

1790. 



First 
Fugitive 
Slave act, 
1793- 



States farther south defended slavery in the abstract, and 
accused the Virginians of selfishness in advocating the pro- 
posed tax, the effect of which would be to raise the price 
of Virginia slaves, as they would be in demand in the South 
and would be purchased of the Virginians by the Carolinian 
and Georgian planters. The proposal was dropped at that 
time in consideration of Southern votes for the protective 
tariff, and, as a matter of fact, no tax was ever levied on 
slaves imported. 

The next year the question again came before Congress, 
this time in a form much more objectionable to the slave 
owners. In February, 1790, memorials were presented 
from the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends and 
from the Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, whose presi- 
dent was Benjamin Franklin. These petitioners prayed 
Congress to use its constitutional powers to "promote 
mercy and justice " toward the negro, and to "remove 
every obstruction to public righteousness," especially in 
respect to slavery. The Southerners assailed the memorial- 
ists with immense energy ; they scented danger from afar, 
and the matter came up when their passions were thoroughly 
aroused by the debates on assumption and on the site of 
the new capital. The most violent of the Southern spokes- 
men was William Jackson of Georgia, an immigrant from 
England, whose vehemence in harangue has probably never 
been exceeded in American deliberative assemblies. The 
House referred the memorials to a committee, and upon 
their report another debate occurred. Ultimately a few 
very mild statements were entered on the journal of the 
House ; among them was a declaration to the effect that 
Congress had no authority to interfere with slavery within 
the states. The subject was then dropped. 

Three years later (1793) the slaveholders secured the 
passage of an act to carry out the provision of the Consti- 
tution (Art. iv) that persons "held to service or labor in 
one state . . . escaping into another . . . shall be delivered 
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor 



i79i] 



The Excise and the Bank 



239 



Dixon's line 
in the West. 



may be due." Fugitive slaves had already been restored ) 
to their masters ; but this act aroused the resentment of 
many persons in the North, and the iirst case which arose 
under it showed how difhcult it is to carry out national 
laws when they are contrary to the sentiment of the peo- 
ple of a state. In this instance, Massachusetts, where the . 
fugitives were found, did not nullify an act of Congress in 
public meeting ; but it proved to be practically impossible 
to execute an undoubtedly constitutional law within her 
borders. -^^ 

In 1792, Kentucky was admitted to the Union as a slave Mason and 
state; Vermont had been admitted as a free state the year 
before. The northern boundary of Virginia and Kentucky, 
from the Pennsylvania line to the Mississippi, was the Ohio 
River, which in this way served as a boundary between the 
free states and territories of the North and the slaveholding 
states and territories of the South. The Ohio forms prac- 
tically a continuation of Mason and Dixon's line ; indeed, 
the latter term was frequently used to designate simply the 
line between the free and the slave states. ' 

198. The Excise and the Bank, 1791. — The third and 
last session of the First Congress was held at Philadelphia. 
Two measures then passed were of exceeding interest : a 
bill for raising revenue from an internal revenue tax or 
excise, and a bill establishing a national bank. It will be 
remembered that Hamilton had valued the plan for the 
assumption of state debts because it would necessitate the 
extension of the government's taxing power to other sources 
of revenue than taxes on goods imported from foreign coun- 
, tries, and thus would bring into the hands of the federal 
government the great sources of public income. When 
the assumption scheme was passed, he proposed that an 
excise tax of twenty-five cents per gallon should be levied 
on all whiskey manufactured in the United States. This 
rate was very low, and the tax would not bring in much 
revenue ; but its enforcement would accustom the western 
frontiersmen to federal taxation and to the presence of 



The Excise 
and the 
Bank, 1791. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
173-177. 



240 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§198 



First Bank of 
the United 
States. 



Constitution- 
ality of the 
measure. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
176-177. 



federal ofificials, and it would make the levying of heavier 
taxes in the future much easier. The bill was stubbornly 
fought in the House ; it was passed against the protests of 
several state legislatures, and it produced a rebellion, — 
the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794. Hamilton's principal 
object was accomplished, however ; the federal government 
had exerted its powers to levy internal taxes and had shown 
its power to suppress rebellion. 

Hamilton had long favored the establishment of a na- 
tional bank. Indeed, during the Revolutionary War, he had 
written to Robert Morris proposing such an institution on 
the ground that it would enlist in that movement the influ- 
ence and interest of men of means and position. He now 
laid before Congress the plan of a national bank, resem- 
bling in many ways the Bank of England. An establish- 
ment of this description would make easier the collection 
and disbursement of the public funds. He therefore main- 
tained that it would be constitutional under the clause 
which authorized Congress " to make all laws which shall 
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the 
foregoing powers," among which was the power " to lay 

and collect taxes . . . 

to pay the debts " of 

the federal government. 

This view of the force 
of the words "necessary and proper" was disputed \\\ 
Congress, especially by Madison. When the bill came be 
fore Washington for his approval, he asked the written 
opinions of his advisers. Jefferson argued that the power 
to charter a bank was nowhere granted to Congress by the 
Constitution, and that, according to the Tenth Amendment 
(§ 184), all powers not delegated to the national govern- 
ment were reserved to the states or to the people. This 
opinion and that of Hamilton are well worth reading, as 
they give an admirable idea of the two modes of interpreting 
the Constitution. After some hesitation, Washington ap- 
proved the bill, and twenty-five years afterward Madison, 




I79IJ 



Rise of the Republican Party 



241 



as President, signed a similar bill. The capital of the new 
bank thus brought into existence was ten milHons, and was 
all subscribed for within two hours. Two parties had been 
formed in the cabinet, however, and from this time on, 
Jefferson and Hamilton, to use the words of the former, 
were " pitted against each other every day in the cabinet, 
like two fighting cocks." Jefferson placed himself at the 
head of the elements of opposition, and with marvellous 
skill welded them into a powerful party. 

199. Rise of the Republican Party. — Jefferson main- 
tained that Hamilton had under his orders in Congress " a 
corrupt squadron " of members, who were wiUing to do his 
bidding and were well paid for their complacency. There 
were also dark stories in circulation of swift sailing vessels 
dispatched by Hamilton's friends to Southern ports, bear- 
ing agents who bought up the certificates of indebtedness at 
a low rate, before the news of the funding of the debt could 
reach those far-off regions. Whether these stories were 
true or false, it is undoubtedly true that the shrewd men 
of business in the North, who were mostly of Hamilton's 
party, made large profits out of the funding operations, at 
the expense, to a considerable extent, of the Southern 
people. 

The financial measures of the new government were very 
successful, and their success alarmed and irritated many 
persons besides Jefferson. They all led to a great increase 
in the power of the central government and to a correspond- 
ing diminution in the power of the state governments. 
The latter organizations were familiar to the great mass of 
the people, who understood little of the problems of finance, 
which had been so admirably solved by the Secretary of the 
Treasury. They felt a distrust toward the growing power 
of the federal government, and were disposed to insist on 
an interpretation of the Constitution which should be favor- 
able to the continued authority of the states. 

Jefferson, personally, was not opposed to the existence of 
a strong national government ; as President, he certainly 



Jefferson 

founds 

Republican 

party. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

217-233, 

234-237. 



Distrust of 
the gov- 
ernment. 
Contempo- 
raries, III, 
Nos. 85, 86. 



242 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 200 



The party 
press. 



Influence of 
the French 
Revolution 
on America. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
262-279. 



never hesitated to use whatever powers the Constitution 
could be construed to give him, and some powers, indeed, 
which no construction could read into that document 
(§ 228) ; but he objected strenuously to the exercise of 
those functions by Hamilton and his allies. With his love 
of individual Hberty, he saw the government every day 
trenching more and more on the rights of the individual. 
He thought he saw a determination to build up a strong gov- 
ernment resembling a monarchy, if not a monarchy itself 
He lost no opportunity tp bring the charge of monarchical 
tendencies home to his opponents ; for himself, he stood 
for republican principles", and the party which gathered 
about him gradually assumed the name of Republican. 
Hamilton and his followers continued to bear the desig- 
nation — so ill befitting them — of Federalists, — a name 
which had proved powerful in the struggle for the ratifica- 
tion of the Constitution. 

Jefferson was the first to recognize the power to be exer- 
cised by the newspaper press. Through his influence was 
established the National Gazette, edited by Philip Freneau, 
a literary man of ability, who occupied the position of 
clerk in Jefferson's department. A furious attack was at 
once begun on Hamilton and the Federalists, in which even 
Washington was not spared. Their defense was feebly 
essayed by the Gazette of the United States. 

200. The Neutrality Proclamation, 1793. — On the first 
day of February, 1793, the French Republic declared 
war against Great Britain, and began a conflict full of 
danger to the United States as well as to the people of 
Europe. Indeed, from this time until 1823, the history 
of the United States was largely influenced by the course 
of events on the other side of the Adantic, and at times it 
may even be said to have been dominated by European' 
political complications. Jefferson had been United States 
minister at Paris at the outbreak of the French Revolution ; 
he had left France almost immediately afterward, and had 
therefore been personally acquainted with the French Revo- 



[793] 



The Neutrality Proclamation 



243 



lution only in its earlier and better period. He sympa- 
thized with the efforts made by the French revolutionary 
leaders to exalt the rights of the individual as against 
the control of government ; that was precisely what he was 
laboring to bring about in America. Hamilton, on the 
other hand, distrusted the people, hated democracy, and 
had no sympathy for France. The cabinet was there- 
fore divided on this question as well as on others, and 
for precisely the same reasons. This was the more unfor- 
tunate as the position of the government was full of peril. 
The Treaty of Alliance with France (§ 152) provided that 
each party should guarantee to the other its territorial 
possessions in America. According to the letter of the 
treaty, therefore, the United States was bound to defend 
the French West India Islands against British attacks. 
Washington laid the case before his advisers and asked 
whether the treaty was still in force, in view of the over- 
throw and execution of the French monarch with whom it 
had been made. Jefferson replied that it was still in force. 
According to the political theories contained in the Declara- 
tion of Independence, which form the basis of the American 
political system, the government of a country is merely the 
instrument by which the sovereign power, the people, car- 
ries on its affairs. Bearing this in mind, it is difficult to 
see how he could have given any other answer. To Ham- 
ilton, however, to whom governments were everything 
and the people nothing, the case seemed to be equally 
clear on the other side. Pohtical expediency, nay, the 
existence of the United States, demanded that she should 
not take sides in the tremendous conflict now approaching. 
Recognizing this, Washington decided to issue a procla- 
mation of neutrality defining the position of the United 
States, and warning all American citizens against commit- 
ting hostile acts in favor of either side (April 22, 1793). 
This proclamation is of the very greatest importance in the 
history of the country, as it was then first definitely laid 
down as a policy that the United States was to hold apart 



The 

Neutrality 
Proclama- 
tion, 1793. 
Mac- 
Donald's 
Documen- 
tary Source 
Book, 
No. 56. 



?44 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 



Genet in 
the Unhed 
States. 



Controversy 
with Great 
Britain, 
1783-93- 



from the wars and politics of Europe. It proved to be very 
difficult to carry out in practice, and the difficulty was not 
in any way lessened by the conduct of the P>ench agent in 
the United States, the " Citizen Genet." 

Genet landed at Charleston on April 8 and at once began 
to fit out warlike expeditions, as if the United States were 
French soil : he armed privateers, commissioned them, and 
directed their masters to send prizes into United States 
ports for condemnation. He then set out for Philadelphia, 
and his journey resembled a triumphal progress. Clubs 
were formed on the model of the Jacobin Club of Paris, 
and extreme democratic ideas were zealously cultivated. 
Fortunately, however, Genet was a very imprudent man, 
and soon mixed himself up in actions which justified the 
government in asking for his recall. This request was at 
once granted ; for the party that had sent him to America 
was no longer in power in France, but had been replaced 
by a much more radical element. Curiously enough, it 
does not appear that Genet, or Fauchet his successor, called 
upon the government to fulfill the provisions of the treaty, — 
a demand which would have been very awkward to meet. 

The Federalists at once endeavored to disgrace their 
opponents by calling them democrats ; and the Republi- 
cans charged the Federalists with leanings toward England, 
and branded them as the British party. There was some 
truth in this latter contention, as the Federalist party 
was strong in the commercial centers of the North, whose 
trade was mainly with Great Britain. Notwithstanding 
their fierce and growing dissensions, Jefferson and Hamil- 
ton both implored Washington to serve another term ; he 
was unanimously re-elected, and John Adams again became 
Vice-President (1792). 

201. Relations with Great Britain, 1783-1793. — The 
treaty of peace of 1783 had secured the independence of the 
United States and had given it adequate boundaries ; but 
it had left unsettled many weighty questions, and some of 
its more important provisions had not been faithfully ob- 



1 794] Relations with Great Britain 245 

served. For instance, legal obstacles had been placed in 
the way of the collection of debts incurred before the Revo- 
lution (§ 175), and Great Britain had refused to surrender 
many posts in the northwest, whose retention was a 
standing threat to the settlers in that region. The British 
had also taken away large numbers of slaves contrary to 
the treaty, according to the American interpretation of it 
(§175). The controversy had reached a dangerous point, 
where slight additional irritation on either side might easily 
lead to war ; and, on the other hand, the United States was 
now in a position to enforce its treaty obligations. 

Meantime, the war between France and Great Britain France, 
had given rise to another cause of complaint. In May, Great 
1793, the French ordered the capture and condemnation of ^^e Neutrals 
neutral vessels carrying provisions to British ports, on the 1793. 
ground that provisions were contraband of war, or goods 
which could not be supplied to a belligerent except at the 
risk of seizure by the other belligerent. The British gov- 
ernment soon adopted a similar policy. In those days 
there also existed an agreement between the leading Euro- 
pean powers to the effect that a neutral could not enjoy in 
time of war a trade which was prohibited to it in time of 
peace. This was called the Rule of War of 1756, or, more 
briefly, the Rule of 1756. The Americans were not allowed 
to trade with the French West Indies in time of peace, but 
as soon as the war broke out those ports were open to 
them. In November, 1 793, the British put this rule in 
force against American shipping. As the Americans were 
not permitted to trade with the British West Indies, this 
action practically closed the commerce of that region to 
them. With the outbreak of the war, another and even 
more irritating contention arose over the right of the British 
to stop American vessels on the high seas and remove 
from them British seamen for service in British men-of- 
war ; the more serious phase of this impressment contro- 
versy will be considered later on (§ 233). Affairs had 
reached a point where war seemed certain. In March, 



246 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 202 



Jay's Treaty, 
1794. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 466- 

471; 

Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
304-311- 



1794, Congress laid an embargo for thirty days on shipping 
in American ports, which was afterwards extended for an- 
other thirty days. A bill was also brought in providing for 
non-intercourse with Great Britain, and was defeated in the 
Senate only by the casting vote of the Vice-President. A 
word from Washington, and the nation would have cheer- 
fully plunged into war. 

202. Jay's Treaty, 1794. — Washington determined to 

make one more effort to 
setde these questions 
peaceably ; he appointed 
John Jay, Chief Justice 
of the United States, 
minister to Great Britain 
to negotiate a new treaty. 
Probably a better choice 
could not have been 
made. Jay had had 
much experience in dip- 
lomatic affairs, was a 
man of the highest hon- 
esty, and one of the 
least self-interested men 
in public life. After a long and difficult negotiation, 
he signed a treaty (1794) whose publication at once 
aroused fierce animosity in the United States. By this 
instrument the British government agreed to turn over the 
posts on June i, 1796; joint commissions were to be 
appointed to settle the question of debts, the indemnity 
for the negroes who were taken away, and to determine 
boundary disputes on the northeastern frontier ; but on the 
questions of neutral trade and impressment the British gov- 
ernment would not yield. The most objectionable provi- 
sion of the treaty was the twelfth article. This opened the 
ports of the British West Indies to American vessels, pro- 
vided that they were under seventy tons, and on the further 
condition that during the continuance of the treaty (twelve 




John Jay 



[79S] 



Ratification of Jay's Treaty 



247 



years) the United States would not export molasses, sugar/ 
coffee, cocoa, or cotton to any part of the world. 

203. Ratification of Jay's Treaty, 1795. — The announce- 
ment of the terms of the treaty was the signal for an outburst 
of indignation. A stuffed figure of Jay was burned, the British 
flag was dragged in the dirt, the British minister was in- 
sulted, and Washington was abused in language that he de- 
clared " could scarcely be applied to a Nero, to a notorious 
defaulter, or even to 
a common pick- 
pocket." It was only 
with the greatest diffi- 
culty that the Senate 
could be induced to 
give its consent to 
the treaty without the 
twelfth article. In 
the House of Repre- 
sentatives there was 
also a fierce conflict, 
for money was needed 
to carry out the pro- 
visions of the treaty. 
After a long debate, 
the House passed a resolution calling on the President for the 
papers relating to the negotiation. This demand Washington 
refused, on the ground that the House of Representatives 
was not a part of the treaty-making power. Finally, the 
House gave way, largely in consequence of pressure brought 
to bear upon Northern members by their constituents in the 
commercial centers of the North ; and by a vote of forty-eight 
to forty-one the necessary appropriation bills were passed. 
The best that can be said of Jay's treaty is that it postponed 
the second war with Great Britain for many years. The 
immediate consequence was to increase the feeling of dis- 
satisfaction with the Federalists. Even in Virginia, Wash- 
ington lost much of his former popularity ; the legislature 




Mrs. John Jay 



Controversy 
over its 
ratification. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
323-329 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
84-130. 



248 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 204 



Controversy 
with Spain, 

1783-95- 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 476. 



Treaty of 
1795- 



Controversy 
with France. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 471; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
332-341. 



of that State refused to pass a vote of undiminished confi- 
dence in its greatest son. 

204. Relations with Spain and France, 1 794-1797. — Ac- 
cording to the treaties of 1763 and 1783, the United States 
enjoyed the right to the free navigation of the Mississippi 
(§ 164) and had a strong claim to territory as far south as 
the thirty-first parallel (§175)- It proved to be very 
difficult to secure possession of the land bordering on the 
Mississippi south of the Yazoo, as the Spaniards contended 
that Britain, in ceding to her " the Floridas," had ceded 
them with the boundaries under which they were actually 
governed at the time of the Spanish occupation (§ 175). 
The Spaniards also intrigued with the settlers in Kentucky 
and Tennessee. The right of the United States to the free 
navigation of the Mississippi could not well be denied, but 
the free navigation of the great river was of slight value 
unless the Americans possessed the further privilege of 
using some portion of the river's banks within Spanish terri- 
tory for the purpose of transferring cargo from river-going 
craft to vessels capable of navigating the ocean. In 1795, 
Thomas Pinckney negotiated a treaty with Spain, by which 
that power agreed to designate " a place of deposit " within 
her territory where goods might be stored free of duty while 
awaiting transshipment, and she acknowledged the claim of 
the United States as to the boundary to be valid ; but it 
was several years before the posts within the territory thus 
conceded were handed over to the United States. With 
France matters did not proceed so satisfactorily. 

The French government was greatly exasperated by the 
conclusion of the treaty with Great Britain, as war between 
that power and the United States was thereby made improb- 
able. The American minister at Paris, James Monroe, a 
Virginian of the Jeffersonian school, instead of doing his 
utmost to smooth away these feelings of resentment, seems 
to have shared them himself; he also made no attempt 
to press the claims of America for damages for the unjustifi- 
able seizure of vessels by the French. Washington recalled 



1797] 



Election of John Adams 



249 




him, and sent in his place Charles C. Pinckney of South 
Carolina, whom the French government refused to receive 
(February, 1797). 

205. Washington's Farewell Address, 1797. — Toward the 
close of his second term, Washington decided to retire from 
the presidency, and by declining to be a candidate for re- 
election, set a precedent which was followed until 1912. 
He announced this determination in a masterly Farewell 
Address, which is still full of instruction for the American 
people. He earnestly besought his countrymen to foster the 
government recently established and to preserve the public 
credit. As 
to the outer 
world, he 
wished his 

fellow-citizens first of all to be Americans, and to avoid tak- 
ing sides with foreign nations : " It is our true policy to steer 
clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign 
world. ... I hold the maxim no less applicable to public 
than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best 
policy. . . . 

" Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are 
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest." 

206. Election of John Adams, 1796. — The choice of 
Washington's successor proved to be a matter of some 
difficulty. Jefferson was the undoubted leader of the Re- 
publicans, and he became their candidate. There was no 
such unanimity of opinion among the Federalists : Hamil- 
ton was the real leader of the party, but he was very unpopu- 
lar and could not possibly have been elected ; John Jay 
would have been Hamilton's choice for the place, but 
his connection with the negotiation of Jay's treaty 
made him an impossible candidate. Under the circum- 
stances, John Adams was the only candidate whom the 
Federalists could put forward with a fair chance of success. 
But Hamilton sought by an unworthy political trick to 
secure the election to the first place of Thomas Pinckney, 



Wash- 
ington's 
retirement 
Old South 
LeaJlets,Gen. 
Sen No. 4; 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
III, 162. 



Election of 
1796. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, 1 , 342, 

347-349 : 

*Stanwoods' 
Presidency. 



250 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 207 



the nominal candidate for the vice-presidency. Adams was 
popular with the rank and file of the Federalist party, al- 
though he was disliked by some of the leaders. The result 
was that to insure the choice of Adams, a number of Fed- 
eralist electors threw away their second votes, and thus 
brought about the election of Jefferson to the second place 

instead of Pinckney. Jeffer- 
son, indeed, showed the 
most unexpected strength, 
and Adams was chosen 
President by three votes 
only over his Republican 
rival, — the votes being 
seventy-one for Adams and 
sixty-eight for Jefferson. 
The Federalists kept con- 
trol of the Senate, but the 
moderate Republicans held 
the balance of power in the 
House of Representatives. 

Adams, at the outset of 
his administration, made the 
fatal blunder of retaining 
Washington's official ad- 
visers in office. Hamilton 
had long since retired from 
the cabinet, and the heads of departments were men of fair 
abilities only, and could easily have been replaced. They 
regarded Hamilton as their chief and intrigued against 
Adams from the beginning to the end of his term of office. 
Beset by these difficulties at home, Adams had a most 
arduous task in the settlement of the troubles with France. 

207. Breach vi^ith France, 1796-1799. — The new Presi- 
dent had scarcely assumed office when news arrived that 
Pinckney had been sent away from Paris. Adams deter- 
mined, however, to make another effort to renew friendly 
relations with the former ally of America. He appointed a 




Election of 1 796 



1798] 



Alien and Sedition Acts 



251 



commission, consisting of Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts 
Republican, John Marshall, a Virginia Federalist, and 
Charles C. Pinckney, the rejected minister, to go to France 
and endeavor to preserve peace with the French Republic, 
now under the government of the Directory. The commis- 
sioners met with a most extraordinary reception at Paris 
(October, 1797). Agents came to them whose names were 
disguised in the dispatches under the letters X, Y, and Z. 
They demanded money as the price of receiving the Ameri- 
cans. This was refused, and the commissioners were 
directed to leave France. An attempt was made, however, 
to negotiate separately with Gerry, who was regarded as 
representing the Jeffersonian party. News traveled slowly 
in those days, and it was March, 1 798, before Adams com- 
municated to Congress the failure of this ill-starred commis- 
sion. In June the President closed a message to Congress 
with the assertion that he would " never send another min- 
ister to France without assurances that he would be received, 
respected, and honored as the representative of a great, free, 
powerful, and independent nation." 

Instantly, there was a change of feeling in Congress. 
The Federalists gained control of both houses, and pushed 
forward preparations for defense. A new army organiza- 
tion was begun, with Washington in nominal command ; 
but the real direction of military affairs was intrusted to 
Hamilton, who was forced on the President by Washington 
as the price of his own co-operation. The building of a 
navy, which had already been begun during recent disputes 
with the piratical states of northern Africa, was now pushed 
on with vigor. Many of the new vessels did excellent 
service. In their home policy, however, the Federalists 
committed grave blunders, 

208. Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798. — These acts were 
the outcome of an exaggerated fear of the RepubHcans on 
the part of the Federalists ; even Washington, who was now 
a strict party man, whatever he may have been in his earlier 
years, proposed to prevent Republicans from joining the 



Schouler's 
United 
States, 1, 
358-367- 



The X, Y, Z 

affair. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 

385-398 : 

Cottteinpo- 
raries. III, 
No. 99. 



Preparations 
for war. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
415-422 ; 



Restrictive 
legislation, 
1798. 



252 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§208 



army of which he was the head. The first law against 
aliens was the Naturalization Act (June i8, 1798), raising 
the period of residence preliminary to naturalization from 
five to fourteen years. The second law (June 25, 1798), 
which is usually cited as the Alien Act, authorized the Presi- 
dent to order any aliens " he shall judge dangerous to the 

peace and safety of 
the United States, or 
shall have reasonable 
grounds to suspect 
are concerned in any 
treasonable or secret 
machinations against 
the government 
thereof, to depart out 
of the territory of the 
United States " ; or 
he might, at his dis- 
cretion, grant an alien 
a "license to . . . 
remain within the 
United States for such 
time as he shall judge 
proper, and at such 
place as he may des- 
ignate," under such 
bonds as he may 
think fit, and he might revoke the license at any time. An 
alien returning could be "imprisoned so long as, in the opinion 
of the President, the public safety may require." The third 
law directed against aliens, which is generally cited as the 
Second Alien Act, authorized the President in time of war 
" to arrest, restrain, secure, and remove as alien enemies all 
natives or subjects of such hostile nation or government as 
are not actually naturalized." The Sedition Act (July 14, 
1798) made it a crime punishable " by a fine not exceeding 
five thousand dollars and by imprisonment during a term of 




Mrs. John Adams 



1798] 



Alien and Sedition Acts 



253 



not less than six months nor exceeding five years " for any 
persons to "unlawfully combine " with intent to oppose any 
measure of the government or to impede the operation of 
any law, or to intimidate any government official. Further- 
more, any person who should write, print, utter, or publish 
anything, or cause anything to be so written or uttered, with 
intent to defame the 
government of the 
United States, or to 
excite unlawful com- 
binations, should be 
punished by a fine 
not exceeding two 
thousand dollars and 
by imprisonment not 
exceeding two years. 
The Alien Act was to 
be in force for two 
years and the Sedi- 
tion Act until March 
3, 1801, the end of 
Adams's term. These 
Alien and Sedition 
Acts were modeled 
on similar laws which 
had recently been 
passed in England, 
and, with the Natu- 
ralization Act, were aimed principally against the Republican 
politicians and newspaper writers, many of whom were for- 
eigners. These laws were opposed in the House of Repre- 
sentatives by the Republicans, ably led by Albert Gallatin, 
an immigrant from Switzerland ; but their opposition was Effects of 
unavailing. Adams seems to have taken slight interest in these laws, 
the matter ; he never acted under the alien acts, but they 
cannot be said to have been entirely inoperative, as two or 
three " shiploads " of aliens left the country rather than incur 




John Adams, after a painting by Stuart 



254 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 209 



Kentucky 

Resolutions, 

1798. 

Atnerican 

History 

Lea/lets, 

No. 15; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

433-436. 



the risk of remaining. The Sedition Act was put into force 
several times, notably against Callender, a Republican news- 
paper editor. Every prosecution under the act was given 
the greatest publicity by the Republicans and lost hundreds, 
if not thousands, of votes to the Federalists. Jefferson also 
adopted the old revolutionary expedient of legislative re- 
solves, in order to bring the harsh measures of the Federal- 
ists prominently before the people. 

209. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 1798, 1799. — 
The Kentucky Resolutions, which were the first to be 
adopted, were introduced into the legislature of that state 
by Mr. Breckinridge ; their real author, however, was Jeffer- 
son. His original draft contained the logical conclusions 
from the premises of the argum£nt which went beyond 
what the Kentucky legislators were ready to place on record 
in 1798. In 1799, however, they had reached the neces- 
sary pitch of indignation to adopt the whole of Jefferson's 
argument. There are other differences between Jefferson's 
draft and the resolutions as voted either in 1798 or 1799. 
It will be convenient to consider the two sets as one, and 
to note one or two of the changes from the original writing. 
The Resolutions of 1798 open with the statement " that the 
several states composing the United States of America are 
not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their 
general government ; but that by compact under the style 
and title of a constitution . . . they [i] constituted a 
general government for special purposes, delegated to that 
government certain definite powers . . . ; and that whereso- 
ever the general government assumes undelegated powers, 
its acts are unauthoritative, void, and are of no force : 
[2] That to this compact each state acceded as a state, 
and as an integral party, its co-states forming as to itself, 
the other party ... [3] that as in all other cases of com- 
pact among parties having no common judge, each party 
has a right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of 
the mode and measure of redress." The Resolutions then 
proceed to state that the acts enumerated in the preceding 



1798] Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions 255 



section and an act to punish frauds committed on the Bank 
of the United States, which was passed in June, 1798, are 
altogether void and of no force, as they were contrary to 
the Constitution and the amendments. 

Jefferson's original draft had contained the further state- 
ment " that every state has a natural right in a case not 
within the compact (casi/s non foederis) to nullify of their 
own authority all assumptions of power by others within 
their limits." This statement was omitted from the Reso- 
lutions of 1798; it appears in those of 1799 in an even 
stronger form : " That the several states who formed that 
instrument [the Constitution] being sovereign and inde- 
pendent, have the unquestionable right to judge of the 
infraction [of that instrument] ; and that a nullification^ by 
those sovereignties, of all nnaiithoj-ized acts done under color 
of that instrument, is the rightful remedy." 

The Virginia Resolutions were drawn by Madison and 
were much milder in tone. They termed the Constitution, 
however, " a compact," and called upon the other states to 
join with Virginia in declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts 
unconstitutional. These Resolutions and the Kentucky 
Resolutions of 1798 were communicated to the other states. 
They evoked strong condemnation from the legislatures of 
the Northern states and received no support from those 
of the Southern states. It is difficult to say what remedy 
Jefferson and Madison desired to see adopted ; probably 
nothing more than a new constitutional convention ; cer- 
tainly they had no desire to see the Union dissolved, and 
in all probability wished to do nothing more than to place 
the compact theory of the Constitution before the people 
in a clear and unmistakable manner. In this they suc- 
ceeded, and the Resolutions undoubtedly did much to turn 
the current of public opinion against the authors of the 
Alien and Sedition Acts. 

A letter which Hamilton wrote to Mr. Dayton, the 
Federalist Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
contains an enunciation of the extreme Federalist view. 



Kentucky 

Resolutions 

of 1799. 

Americati 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 15. 



Virginia 

Resolutions 

1798. 

American 

History 

Leaflets, 

No. 15. 



Hamilton's 
letter to 
Dayton. 



256 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 210 



and may be regarded, in some measure, as an answer 
to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Its author 
advocated the cutting up of the states into small divi- 
sions, for the purpose of increasing the number and power 
of the federal courts. He also suggested the adoption 
of an amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress 
the power to divide the larger states into two or more 
states. He further advised the retention of the army on 
its present footing, even if peace should be made with 
France. At this moment, Adams reopened negotiations 
with France, and by concluding a treaty with that country, 
put an abrupt ending to the dreams of Hamilton and his 
friends and widened the breach in the FederaHst party 
beyond possibility of repair. 

210. Treaty with France, 1800. — The publication of the 
X, Y, Z correspondence caused great excitement among 
the governing circles in France. Talleyrand, who had 
been at the bottom of the intrigue, saw that he had gone 
too far, and tried to draw back ; he caused a message 
to be conveyed to Vans Murray, American minister to the 
Netherlands, that if the United States would send another 
envoy to France, he would be "received as the represent- 
"ative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation." 
Adams grasped eagerly at the opportunity to bring peace 
to his country. Without consulting his cabinet, he nomi- 
nated Vans Murray as minister to France. The Federalist 
leaders in the Senate, amazed at this change of front, 
seemed determined to reject the nomination, when Adams 
substituted a commission consisting of Oliver Ellsworth, 
Jay's successor as Chief Justice, Patrick Henry, and Vans 
Murray; and these nominations were confirmed. Henry, 
now old and infirm, declined to serve, and William R. 
Davie of North Carolina, another Southern Federalist, was 
appointed in his stead. Adams also seized the first oppor- 
tunity to dismiss the most treacherous of his advisers, and 
substituted John Marshall in place of Timothy Pickering 
as Secretary of State. 



i8oo] 



Treaty with France 



257 



Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, was now at the head 
of affairs in France. The Commissioners were well received, 
and a French commission, at the head of which was Joseph 
Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, was appointed to negotiate 
with them. In many respects, the treaty thus concluded 
was satisfactory to both parties ; but Napoleon declined to 
pay for American property seized by the French govern- 
ment or by its agents 
during the recent 
troubles, or to con- 
sent to the formal 
abandonment of the 
treaty of 1778. 
These subjects were 
reserved for future 
negotiations. The 
United States Senate 
refused to ratify this 
part of the arrange- 
ment. Ultimately, 
it was agreed that 
the United States 
should give up its 
contention as to the 
payment of claims, 
and Napoleon con- 
sented to regard the treaty of 1778 as no longer binding. 
In this way, by the action of the Senate, the United States 
became bound, at least morally, to compensate its own cit- 
izens for French spoliations committed prior to 1800, which 
were thus bartered away for the final renunciation of the treaty 
of 1778 with its formidable guarantee of the French West 
India possessions. It is only within recent years, however, 
when legal proof has become almost impossible, that Congress 
has consented to pay these "French spoliation claims." 

211. The Election of 1800. — The presidential election of 
1800 was fought with great vigor and with great bitterness 
s 




Timolhy Pickering 



Treaty of 

1800. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, I, 

441-447. 

451-456. 488. 



The French 

Spohation 

Claims. 



258 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 211 



of language and temper. John Adams, by his honest and 
patriotic policy, had saved the country from a disastrous 
war, and had deeply offended the leaders of the Federalist 
party. He was still popular with the people, who recog- 
nized his fearless honesty and remembered his great services 
during the Revolution. He became the Federalist candi- 
date for the presidency because there was no one else to 

nominate with any chance 
of success. Hamilton, in- 
stead of accepting his can- 
didacy with good grace and 
supporting the party candi- 
date with all his strength 
and influence, embarked on 
a course of petty intrigue, 
similar to the intrigues of 
1788 and 1796, which have 
been already described 
(§§ 191, 206). Charles 
Cotesworth Pinckney of 
South Carolina was the Fed- 
eralist candidate for second 
place. It was proposed that 
the South Carolina electors 
should vote for Pinckney 
and Jefferson, in the expec- 
tation that the votes thus 
withdrawn from Adams and given to Jefferson would return 
Adams to second place and bring in Pinckney as President. 
The latter honorably refused to be a party to such a transac- 
tion. Hamilton also sought to discredit Adams by writing 
a long dissertation to show his unfitness for the office of 
chief magistrate. This paper was based on information 
furnished by Oliver Wolcott, who had succeeded Hamilton 
as Secretary of the Treasury. The Republicans obtained 
a copy and gave it the widest publication. The Federalists 
were probably doomed to failure, as the heavy taxes made 




Election of 1800 



iSoi] 



The Judiciary Act 



259 



necessary by the preparations for war, and the hatred which 
the prosecutions under the Sedition Act had aroused, had 
converted thousands to the Repubhcan side. That party 
was now thoroughly organized by JeiTerson and the other 
leaders, especially Aaron Burr, a disreputable politician, 
who had been nominated for the vice-presidency because 
he controlled the votes of New York. When the electoral 
ballots were counted, it was found that Jefferson and Burr 
had each received seventy-three votes ; Adams, sixty-five ; 
and Pinckney, sixty-four. As the Constitution then stood, 
the electors did not state their preference for President, 
and in case of a tie the House of Representatives, voting 
by states, must elect one of the two highest, President. 

It happened that the Federalists were in a majority in 
the House, both as ordinarily constituted and when voting 
by states. Enraged at their defeat, and embittered beyond 
all measure with Jefferson, they determined to thwart the 
will of the people and elect Burr ; for there was no question 
as to which candidate the Republicans desired to have 
President. This was against the advice of Hamilton, who 
distrusted and hated Burr even more than he did Jefferson. 
Thirty-six ballots were necessary before the Federalists 
could bring themselves to acquiesce in Jefferson's election, 
and even then they refused to vote for him, and permitted 
him to be chosen only by absenting themselves. The 
Federalists lost greatly by this political maneuver. Once 
in power, the Republicans proposed an amendment to the 
Constitution revising the method of choosing the President 
and Vice-President (§ 229). 

212. The Judiciary Act, 1801. — Defeated in the election, 
the Federalists " retreated into the Judiciary as a strong- 
hold." The Judiciary, as it was established at the time of 
the organization of the government, was more than suffi- 
cient for the transaction of all the business that was likely 
to come before it for many years. Nevertheless, the Feder- 
alists, after the results of the election were known, pushed 
through Congress an act greatly enlarging it anil providing 



Election of 
Jefferson by 
the House. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, I, 
492-500, 



The 

Judiciary 
Act, 1801. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 1 , 50a 



26o 



The Federalist Supremacy 



[§ 212 



many new and valuable places to be filled by the President 
of the defeated party. The Constitution forbids a member 
of Congress to accept an office which has been created, or 
the emoluments of which have been increased, during his 
term as a member of that body. This requirement was 
now evaded by pfomoting many district judges to the 
new positions, and filling the vacancies thus created by the 
appointment of members of Congress. One of Adams's 
judicial appointments deserves a fuller mention. Ohver 
Ellsworth, Jay's successor in the chief-justiceship, resigned, 
and John Marshall was nominated in his stead. He was at 
the moment acting as Secretary of State and for a few days 
performed the duties of both offices, — a combination of 
executive and judicial functions not contemplated by the 
Constitution. He proved to be the ablest legal luminary 
America has yet produced. For thirty-five years he re- 
mained at the head of the Supreme Court, continuing in 
that branch of the government the broad constructive theo- 
ries of constitutional interpretation maintained by the 
Federalists. 

Adams also filled up every vacant office in the govern- 
ment, and Marshall was still busy countersigning commis- 
sions when the hour of twelve struck on the night of March 
3, 1 80 1, and the Federalist supremacy came to an end. At 
dawn the next morning Adams set out for his home in 
Quincy, Massachusetts, without waiting to greet his unwel- 
come successor. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 



§§ 191-198. Organization of the Government 

a. Put as a heading in note-book "Party Government"; begin 
its outline with the following heads: definition of party; why are 
pohtical parties necessary? trace origin and growth of party govern- 
ment in the United States; discuss organization of parties; describe 
the present political organizations in your state; ought a citizen to 
attach himself to a party? what are Independents and what political 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 261 



value have they, if any? what political value has a "regular" party 
man, if any? 

l>. State the fundamental principles held by the first two great politi- 
cal parties; are these principles party issues to-day? 

c. Compare Washington's Inaugural Address with that of the pres- 
ent chief magistrate under the following heads : personal tone, specific 
statement, declaration of political principles, self-effacement, English 
style. Account for difference. 

d. State the legal relations of the cabinet officers to the President; 
to Congress. Compare with British cabinet system. 

e. Was the declaration that " Congress had no authority to interfere 
with slavery within the states" binding on future Congresses? 

§§ 200-204. Foreign Relations 

a. Bring to class a brief digest of the history of Great Britain and 
France, 1783-1801. 

d. Review the services of France to the United States, 1776-83, and 
then discuss her treatment by the United States at this period. 

<r. Why does the Neutrality Proclamation mark an epoch in United 
States history? 

§ 205. Washington's Farewell Address 

Enter in your note-book Washington's views touching the following 
points: the continuance of the Union, sectional parlies, combinations 
and associations; changes in Constitution, federal authority, party spirit, 
encroachments by departments, public education, national antipathies 
and attachments, European alliances. Watch the course of the nar- 
ration to see how far Washington's warnings were prophetic. 

§§ 206-210. John Adams's Administration 

a. What is the significance in United States history of French rela- 
tions at this time? 

i>. What are the features of the present Naturalization Act? 

<r. Under what headings in note-book must matter in § 209 be 
entered? Why are the "compact theory" and "nullification" 
spoken of as premise and conclusion? Why is Madison called the 
"Father of the Constitution"? Has his testimony in the Virginia 
Resolutions as to the nature of the Constitution any value? Care- 
fully define interposition, nullification. 

§ 211. Election of 1800 

a. Breach in Federalist party: causes; describe and criticise con- 
duct of opponents; results. 



262 The Federalist Supremacy 

h. Explain the original method of election of President and state 
its advantages and disadvantages; what changes were made by the 
Twelfth Amendment? How far were they improvements? What 
method would you recommend, and why? 

General Questions 

a. Consider the Federalist party under the following heads : promi- 
nent men, theory, services, errors; why was it natural and fortunate 
that such a party should at first direct the destinies of the United 
States? Why natural and fortunate that it should fall? 

b. Look up Principles of Neutrality, Principles of Consular Powers. 

c. Enter in note-book list of constitutional questions which arose 
during this period. 

Topics for Individual Investigation 

a. Summarize Hamilton's statements of foreign debt, domestic debt, 
state debts; define his attitude toward each, and summarize his reason 
{Guide, § 177). 

b. Explain the Funding '&\\\{Guide, § 177). 

c. Explain the compromise over Assumption {Guide, § 177). 

d. Summarize Hamilton's argument on the constitutionality of the 
United States Bank; summarize Jefferson's argument {Guide, § 178). 

<f. Summarize the leading speeches on Jay's Treaty. 

f. Summarize the repressive acts of 1798. 

g. Summarize the Kentucky Resolutions, the Virginia Resolutions. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, 1801-1812 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — ^ Johnston's American Politics, 55-77; Hig- 
ginson's Larger History, 344-365; Hart's Formation of the Union, 
176-206; ^?Wt.x'''s, Making of the Nation, 168-229; Schouler's United 
States, II, ch. vii. 

Special Accounts. — Wilson's Presidents ; Schouler's Jefferson ; 
Morse's /. Q. Adams; Gay's Madison; Adams's John Randolph ; 
Roosevelt's IVinning of the M-^est ; Larned's History for Ready 
Reference ; Schouler's United States ; Channing's Jeffersonian System ; 
Maurice Thompson's Louisiana. Larger biographies of the leading 
statesmen, Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — Cooper and Fenton, American Politics; Stedman and 
Hutchinson, Library of American Literature ; Benton's Abridgment ; 
American History L.eaflets ; Williams's Stateman's Manual ; Adams's 
Neiu England P'ederalism. Writings of the leading statesmen, Guide, 
§§ 46, 47; MacDonald's Documentary Source Book. 

Maps. — MacCuun's LHstorical Geography ; Hart's Epoch Maps; 
Winsor's America. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 186-190. 

Illustrative Material. — • McMaster's United States ; Maclay's 
United States Navy; Goodrich's Recollections; Dwight's Travels; 
J. Q. Adams's Diary ; Barton's Burr, Jackson, and Jefferson ; Schuy- 
ler's American Diplomacy ; Sullivan's Eaniiliar Letters ; Basil Hall's 
Voyages and Travels ; Drake's Making of the West. 

Bynner's Zachary Phips ; Hale's Alan Without a Country and 
Philip Nolan^s Friends ; Paulding's Diverting History of John Bull. 

THE JEFFERSONIAN REPUBLICANS, 1801-1812 



213. American Ideals, 1800. — Before 1800, the Ameri- 
can people seemed to stand still, as if lost in the traditions 
and prejudices of the past. The great political overturn genius 

263 



Rise of 

American 

inventive 



264 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 214 



which some writers call the Revolution of 1800, marks the 
point of time when this indifference gave way to an outburst 
of mental activity and to a fertility of invention that, in the 
life of one generation (1800-30), changed the American 
people into the energetic race it has ever since been. It 
lost much of its natural opposition to that which is new and 
prepared to take advantage of the great opportunities which 
the appHcation of modern invention to the natural wealth 
of the United States placed within reach. At the same 
time, the American people sought to elevate the intellectual 
and the material position of the average citizen. These 




Numbers, 

1800. 

North's 

Century of 

Population 

Growth. 



Movement of the center of population 

tasks were difficult, the laborers were few, and a less 
hopeful race might well have been dismayed at the work 
before it. 

214. Population in 1800. — The census of 1800 gives 
the total population of the United States as about five 
millions (5,308,483), in comparison with a population of 
four millions in 1790, and fifteen hundred thousand in 
1760. At the beginning of the century the population of 
the British Islands was some fifteen millions, and that of 
France, over twenty-seven millions. These five million 
Americans were scattered over nearly three hundred thou- 
sand square miles of territory, that being the " settled area " 
according to the census. At least two thirds, or three and 
one half millions, lived on tide water, or within fifty miles 
of it. The remainder inhabited the slopes of the Alle- 
ghanies or the new settlements in the Northwest Territory, 



i8oo] Population in 1800 265 

Kentucky, and Tennessee, which were then frequently 
spoken of as "The West." 

The growth of this latter region had been wonderful for Settlement 
those days, before the time of steam. In 1790 there were of the West 
about one hundred and eleven thousand settlers in the 
West ; their number had increased in ten years to three 
hundred and seventy thousand, distributed as follows : in 
Kentucky, two hundred and twenty thousand, including 
forty thousand slaves ; in Tennessee, one hundred and five 
thousand, of whom fourteen thousand were slaves ; and in 
the Northwest Territory, forty-five thousand, all free. 

The center of population was near Baltimore, but it Distribution 
had already advanced forty-one miles on its westward ofpopuia- 
march, — in 1790 it had been twenty-three miles east of 
Baltimore, and now it was eighteen miles west of that 
city. The inhabitants of the original thirteen states and 
of Vermont were distributed somewhat as follows : north 
of Mason and Dixon's line (§ 87) there were nearly two 
million seven hundred thousand, including one hundred 
thousand slaves ; south of that line there were two million 
two hundred thousand, of whom nine hundred thousand 
were slaves. The white population of the South was there- 
fore just one half of that of the North. The state which 
possessed the largest slave population was Virginia, with 
three hundred and fifty thousand slaves, in a total popula- 
tion of nearly nine hundred thousand ; in South Carolina 
there were thirty thousand whites and seventy thousand 
blacks. 

The American people has usually been regarded as of Racial 
English origin, and, as a matter of fact, that race was the elements, 
most numerous and the most important ; and American in- 
stitutions have their source mainly in English institutions, as 
developed in colonial days. The first three quarters of 
the eighteenth century had witnessed a great immigration 
from Europe to America ; but from 1775 to 1800 few immi- 
grants landed on the shores of the United States. Many 
men who played prominent parts in the formation of the 



266 



TJie Jeffcrsonian Republicans 



[§ 214 



New 
England 
and 
Virginia. 



The Middle 
states. 



Constitution and in the organization of the government 
were born outside the Hmits of the United States. For 
instance, the three great financiers, Robert Morris, Alex- 
ander Hamilton, and Albert Gallatin, were foreign born ; 
James Wilson, who contributed powerfully to secure the 
ratification of the Constitution was a Scot, and William 
Jackson, the defender of slavery, was an Englishman. 
But, with the exception of those foreigners who were 
already on the soil in 1775, the citizens of the United 
States in 1800 were born in America. They were de- 
scended from all the nations of northwestern Europe, 
and it will be interesting to note the racial origins of 
the inhabitants of the several sections. In New Eng- 
land and Virginia, there was less of the non-English ele- 
ment than in any other portion of the country ; but even 
in New England there were descendants of Scots banished 
by Crornwell after the victories of Dunbar and Worcester, 
of Scotch-Irish immigrants from the north of Ireland, and 
of Huguenots who had fled from France at the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes. In the newly settled portions of 
Virginia there were often descendants of Scotch-Irish immi- 
grants and of German Protestants. But taking the New 
England states and Virginia as a whole, it may fairly 
be said that the bulk of the people were of English 
extraction. 

In the Middle states there was the greatest diversity of 
population. New York City, originally settled by the 
Dutch, contained people of many races even as far back as 
the outbreak of the Revolutionary War ; on the banks of 
the Hudson and the Mohawk, there were large German 
settlements. In Pennsylvania and Maryland were people 
of many races and religions, and in the extreme south were 
large numbers of Germans, French, Scots, and Scotch-Irish. 
These various races were all drawn from the two great 
branches of the Aryan stock, — Germanic and Keltic, — 
which have always shown the greatest power of living side 
by side. They lived happily together on American soil, 



i8oo] 



Analysis of the Population 



267 



and, by a process of growing together, laid the foundation 
of a strong aggressive race, the American people, which 
came into existence in the epoch between the inaugu- 
ration of Thomas Jefferson and the election of Andrew 
Jackson. 

215. Analysis of the Population. — The collection of Cities and 
large portions of the populace in cities and towns had to^"s. 




Density of population, 1800 

scarcely begun. Only about five per cent of the total 
population can be regarded as urban as distinguished from 
rural. This part of the people was gathered into eleven 
cities and towns, only five of which — Philadelphia, New 
York, Baltimore, Boston, and Charleston — would now be 
regarded as urban. Philadelphia, the largest of them, 
contained seventy thousand inhabitants. It was the finest 
city in America, and patriotic Americans regarded it as 
surpassing Paris and London in elegance : the principal 
streets were lighted, many of them were paved, a system 



268 The Jeffersonian Republicans [§ 216 

of drainage was already devised, and water was furnished 
to the inhabitants by wooden pipes from a pure source of 
supply outside the city. New York, with sixty thousand 
inhabitants, was behind Philadelphia in introducing im- 
provements, but, even in 1800, it must have been an 
agreeable place of residence ; the houses then stood near 
together on the southern end of Manhattan Island, and 
Broadway was a fashionable drive. Baltimore, the third 
in point of population (twenty-six thousand), was situated 
south of Mason and Dixon's line ; but it was a Pennsylvania 
seaport fully as much as a Maryland town, as it absorbed 
most of the commerce of the Susquehanna valley. Bos- 
• ton, with twenty-four thousand inhabitants, was a thickly 
built little town with narrow streets and a thriving com- 
merce. Charleston contained twenty thousand souls, and 
bore a distinctively Southern aspect; it controlled the rice 
trade, and was the place of residence of the wealthy planters 
of South Carolina. Providence, Savannah, Norfork, Rich- 
mond, Albany, and Portsmouth, each contained between 
eight and five thousand inhabitants. Washington, the new 
capital, had been recently occupied ; it was hardly a vil- 
lage, except on paper, and contained only the Capitol, the 
White House, two departmental buildings, and a few 
boarding houses ; the public buildings were still uncom- 
pleted ; Mrs. Adams found the audience room of the White 
House convenient for drying clothes, and the representa- 
tives met in a temporary building erected in the middle of 
the unfinished Capitol. 
Area. 2i6. Various Statistics. — The area of the United States 

was about eight hundred thousand square miles (849,145), 
of which only three hundred thousand were partially occu- 
pied. The total valuation of the United States was esti- 
mated to be about eighteen hundred million dollars, or 
about three hundred and twenty-eight dollars per head of 
the population. 
Exports and Notwithstanding the obstacles placed in the way of the 
imports. -vvggt j,^ji^ jj.^jg^ ^^^ ^^^ dislocation of commerce, owing 



i8oo] 



Occupations of the People 



269 



to the breach with France, the country was prosperous, and 
foreign trade had increased in a marvellous manner. The 
exports, excluding bullion, were valued at over twenty mil- 
lion dollars in 1790, and at over seventy millions in 1800. 
The imports had increased at a still more rapid rate; in 
1790 they were valued at twenty-five millions, in 1800 at 
over ninety millions. 

217. Occupations of the People. — Agriculture was the 
principal occupation of the people, although the commerce 
of the Northern states was of great importance. Manufac- 
turing had been begun, but as yet was in its infancy, and 
the fisheries remained a source of great proportional wealth. 
Wheat and other food grains were largely exported from 
the middle group of states, including those on Chesapeake 
Bay; New Jersey produced more than any other. In 1791, 
more than six hundred thousand barrels of flour and one 
million bushels of wheat were exported, and about double 
that amount in 1800. The soil and climate of New Eng- 
land were unsuited to agriculture on an extensive scale, 
but potatoes, onions, turnips, and carrots flourished and 
formed an important article of export to the West India 
Islands, whenever they were open to American commerce. 
Tobacco and rice were the great staples of the Southern 
states, and with naval stores and indigo were the most 
valuable exports of that section ; the cultivation of cotton 
for export was just beginning to attract attention. 

Foreign commerce was thriving in 1800, and vessels fly- 
ing the flag of the United States had already visited every 
sea ; most of these merchant ships were very small, seldom 
exceeding four hundred tons, and the largest vessel in the 
navy measured only fifteen hundred tons. Coastwise navi- 
gation was still uncertain and dangerous, but more vessels 
were employed, and departures and arrivals were more fre- 
quent and more punctual. The use of steam for motive 
power had as yet attracted slight attention : in 1803 there 
were probably only five steam engines in the country. 
Three years later (1806) Robert Fulton began the con- 



Industries. 



Commerce. 



Robert 

Fulton. 

Hubert's 

Inventors, 

ch. ii ; 

Thurston's 

Fulton. 



270 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§218 



struction of his steamboat, amid the jeers of suspicious and 
incredulous onlookers. The age of steam was near at hand. 
The manufacture of iron had been begun in early colonial 
days, but its successful development had been prevented 
by the repressive policy of the British Parliament. There 
were a few iron mills in Pennsylvania, and the manufacture 
of small articles, as nails, was actively carried on as a 



Cotton 
culture and 
manufacture. 




Robert Fulton 

household industry in New England. The vast mineral 
resources of the United States were practically untouched. 
218. Cotton Culture and Manufacture. — One of the things 
which impresses the student of the colonial and early con- 
stitutional periods is the commercial and political intimacy 
which then existed between mercantile New England and 
rice-growing South Carolina. The planters of the latter 
colony were the customers of the slave dealers of the North, 
and the commerce of the Southern colony and state was 
largely in the hands of New England shipowners and mer- 
chants. The first thirty years of the nineteenth century 



i8oo] Cotton Culture and Manufacture 271 

saw a great revulsion of feeling in these two sections, the 
cause of which may be summed up in one word, — cotton : 
the Northerners began to manufacture cotton and desired 
to be protected from English competition ; the Southerners 
began to grow cotton in large quantities for export, and 
came to regard the protective system as hostile to the 
prosecution of their industry. By fastening slavery on the 




cotton-growing states, this industry also dominated the poli- 
tics of the second third of the century. 

The successful adaptation of the steam engine to the impiove- 
moving of machinery was closely connected in England ™^"*^ '" 

° ■' ■' ° . spinning and 

With great improvements in the machinery for spinning weaving 
and weaving : Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny in machinery. 
1767 ; two years later (1769) Arkwright produced the draw- 
ing frame ; Crompton followed with the mule spinner in 
1784 ; and Cartwright with the power loom in 1785. These 



272 



The Jejfersonian Republicans 



[§ 218 



Whitney's 
cotton gin, 

1793- 
Hubert's 
Inventors, 
ch. iii. 



Rise of 
cotton 

manufacture 
in America. 



great inventions stimulated the manufacture of cotton cloth 
in England and vastly increased the demand for cotton, 
which was then supplied by Egypt and India. Cotton had 
been grown in small quantities in the Southern colonies 
since the middle of the seventeenth century, and had been 
used for the making of coarse clothing in the South. In 
1786 the results of cotton raising were sufficiently favora- 
ble to induce Madison to assert, "There is no reason to 
doubt that the United States will one day become a great 
cotton-producing country." The great obstacle to the 
realization of this expectation was the expense incurred in 
the separation of the fiber from the seed. This process 
had to be tiresomely performed by hand, and labor was 
expensive, even in the South. Notwithstanding these ad- 
verse conditions, the cultivation of cotton proceeded. In 
1790, the South produced two hundred thousand pounds 
of cotton, and in the next year (1791) exported one hun- 
dred and eighty-nine thousand pounds. Two years later 
(1793), Eli Whitney, a Connecticut schoolmaster, then re- 
siding in Georgia, invented an arrangement by which the 
cotton fiber was drawn by saw teeth through openings too 
small to admit of the passage of the seed, and thus multi- 
plied the capacity of one slave in cleaning cotton about 
three hundred fold. Whitney's invention gained billions 
of dollars for the Southerners ; he himself was mobbed 
when he sought to enforce his right to the production of 
his cunning brain. The exportation of cotton now in- 
creased with marvellous rapidity : in 1800 nearly twenty 
million pounds, worth five million dollars, were exported, 
an amount which was exactly doubled in three years, and, 
by 1824, the amount had increased to one hundred and 
forty-two million pounds, worth twenty-two million dollars. 
The manufacture of cotton cloth in the United States 
proceeded more slowly. Parliament (1774) forbade the 
exportation of machinery, or any patterns of machinery, 
for the spinning or weaving of cotton. Spinning machin- 
ery, however, was set up in the United States, at Beverly 



[8oo] 



Slavery 



273 



and Bridgewater in Massachusetts, Pawtucket in Rhode 
Island, Norwich in Connecticut, and at Philadelphia, but 
it was of slight efificiency. In 1 790, Samuel Slater, an English- 
man, who had worked as an apprentice to Arkwright, came 
to America. In partnership with Brown and Almy, two 
Providence men, he reproduced from memory Arkwright's 
machinery, and set it up in a small mill which his associates 
had started two years before. Other spinning mills were 
soon erected, but in 1812 there was no machinery for 
weaving in the country. Its introduction was due to Francis 
Cabot Lowell of Boston, who visited England, studied the 
process of manufacture, and returned with many new ideas, 
but without patterns or machinery. He had observed 
keenly, however, and in company with Patrick T. Jackson 
devised a power loom. In 181 3, with the assistance of 
Nathan Appleton, they built a small factory at Waltham, 
near Boston, and began the spinning and weaving of cotton 
in one factory for the first time in history. From these small 
beginnings, the industry soon grew into large proportions. 

219. Slavery. — In a preceding chapter, the gradual 
spread of emancipation in the North has been mentioned 
(§ 174)^ Since the adoption of the Constitution, New York 
had joined the other Northern states in providing for the 
gradual emancipation of the negro, and in 1800 New Jersey 
was the only state north of Mason and Dixon's line which 
had not provided for the freeing of the slaves. She, too, 
passed a gradual emancipation act in 1804. Of all these 
states, Massachusetts and Vermont alone declared slavery 
to be illegal ; in the other states, the process of emancipation 
was so slow, that in 1840 there were still one thousand one 
hundred and nine negroes legally held in bondage in the 
North ; Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and Michigan were 
the only states in which there were no slaves. 

In the South, there were several emancipation societies in 
1800, and many men expected or hoped for the speedy 
extinction of slavery in that part of the country, There 
were then nearly a million slaves in that section, and the 

T 



Samuel 
Slater. 



F. C. Lowell 



Process of 
emancipa- 
tion in the 

North. 



Emancipa- 
tion in the 
South. 



274 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 220 



Influence of 
slavery. 



Improve- 
ments in 
transport. 
Fiske's Criti- 
cal Period, 
60-63 



increasing profitableness of cotton culture put an end to 
projects of emancipation. The price of slaves in the cotton 
states began to rise ; states which had prohibited the impor- 
tation of slaves repealed the prohibitory statutes ; and the 
Virginians, who had been anxious to bring about emancipa- 
tion in 1789, began to lose interest in the matter now that 
they saw a profitable market for their surplus slaves in the 
states to the southward. The great expansion of the cotton 
industry increased the wealth of the country, but in so far as 
it fixed slavery on the nation, it can be regarded in no 
other light than as a terrible evil, — for the ill wrought by 
slavery cannot be overestimated. 

It was not only in its evil influence on the society in 
which it flourished that slavery worked injury to the country ; 
it divided the nation into two hostile sections, whose 
interests and modes of thought speedily became antagonistic. 
This division was due in part to the fact that those portions 
of the West situated north of the Ohio River were peopled 
mainly by emigrants from the older Northern states on the 
seaboard, and those states lying south of that river were 
settled almost entirely by colonists from the South, who 
migrated thither with their slaves. A large part of Kentucky 
and Tennessee was composed of mountainous regions, and 
was outside of the cotton belt. These states, therefore, 
although tolerating slavery, developed on diff"erent lines from 
the cotton-growing states south of them. 

220. Internal Communication. — Slight improvements had 
been made in transportation since the days when the first 
congressmen journeyed to Philadelphia. The roads in the 
vicinity of the larger towns and those forming the mail 
route, which extended from Maine to Georgia, had been 
improved. It now took twenty days to carry the mails from 
the Kennebec to the Savannah, and twenty-two days 
from Philadelphia to Nashville, Tennessee. Coaches ran 
from Boston to New York three times a week, and occu- 
pied three days on the journey, and a coach ran from New 
York to Philadelphia, occupying nearly two days in going 



i8oo] 



Intellectual Life 



275 



from the Hudson to the Delaware. South of Philadelphia 
there was a good road as far as Baltimore ; south of that 
point it was bad and dangerous. Beyond the Potomac, the 
roads rapidly decreased in safety and number, until south 
of the James the traveler was compelled to have resort 
to horseback ; a coach which ran from Charleston to Savan- 
nah was the only public conveyance south of the Potomac. 
In fact, it may be said without much fear of exaggeration, 
that San Francisco, for all practical purposes, is nearer to 
New York at the present day than Washington was in 1800. 
221. Intellectual Life. — The intellectual life of the peo- 
ple was at a standstill. Philadelphia remained the literary 
center of the country, but there was backwardness even 
there. Franklin and Rittenhouse, who had given it its 
prominence in science, were both dead, and had left no one 
to fill their places. A small group of literary men, of whom 
Philip Freneau is the best known, produced the most 
creditable literary work of the day. kt New Haven, the 
Dwights, Timothy and Theodore, with Joel Barlow, strove 
to establish a literary center ; their success may be gathered 
from a perusal of their principal works, — Barlow's Coltim- 
biad and Timothy Dwight's Greenfield Hill ; the latter's 
Travels in New England and New York is one of the most 
instructive books of the time. The great literary master- 
pieces, save the classics, were scarcely studied at all: 
Shakspere was dreaded in New England, a German book 
could not be bought in Boston, nor was there one in the 
library of the college at Cambridge ; Schiller and Goethe 
were unknown even in Pennsylvania, except possibly in 
translations. The literary men who were to give reputation 
to American letters during the next half century were not 
yet out of school : Washington Irving was a lad of seven- 
teen, James Fenimore Cooper a boy of eleven, and William 
CuUen Bryant a child of six. 

The zeal for education which had been so marked at an 
earlier day (§ 112) had greatly diminished. In the awak- 
ening of the Revolutionary period, there had been much 



Torpidity of 

intellectual 

life. 



Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
111,463- 



Decline of 
education. 



276 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 222 



Encouraging 
signs. 



Cause of the 
fall of the 
Federalists. 



enthusiasm on the subject, but it had since died out. A 
system of public instruction had been established in Rhode 
Island and in New York, the latter in 1795 '> but it was 
already declining in 1800. The colleges had not improved 
their methods of teaching or enlarged the scope of their 
instruction; they had slight hold on the community, and 
fewer students attended them than in the earlier years. 
The medical schools at Philadelphia and Boston were the 
only institutions in the country where any appreciable 
attention was paid to science. 

In only two respects was American mental activity credit- 
able, — in the production of state papers and in works of 
art. The political documents of this epoch were well 
written and logically constructed : students of politics and 
politicians of all grades and parentage have necessarily 
had resort to these admirably expressed documents, 
which have thus served to keep the English of America 
unusually pure. 

The other respect in which the American people gave a 
sign of latent power was in art. Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin 
West, Washington Allston, with Copley and Malbone, 
formed a body of artists of whom any nation might well be 
proud. They received their training in England, and 
achieved most of their renown there. We must now turn 
to a study of the political history of Jefferson's administra- 
tions. 

222. The Federalists and the People. —The fall of the 
Federalists was due to the old-fashioned ideas of the party 
leaders, and to their failure to understand the nature of 
republican institutions. Hamilton's opinion of the people 
has been already stated (§ 192), but other leading men in 
the party were of nearly the same mind. For example, 
Theodore Sedgwick was accustomed to speak of the people 
as "Jacobins and miscreants," and George Cabot held 
" democracy to be the government of the worst." 

The abuse of political opponents which so painfully 
marked the opening years of the government under the 




Thomas Jefferson 
From an engraving by W. HoU 



277 



278 



The Jeffersonian Republicans 



[§ 223 



Abuse of 

political 

opponents. 



Jefferson's 
first inaugu- 
ral, 1801. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 

11, 1-4; 

Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
147-163 ; 
Contempo- 
raries, 111, 
No. 106. 



Constitution was not confined to Republican denunciation 
of Federalists. On the contrary, Jefferson was the mark of 
abusive reproaches from the pens of newspaper editors 
and the tongues of orators and ministers. One Federalist 
editor for a time habitually wrote of Jefferson and Gallatin 
as " the knaves," " the cold thinking villians . . . whose 
black blood runs temperately bad." Theodore Dwight, one 
of the New Haven literary coterie (§ 221) and the histo- 
riographer of the Federalists, expressed the opinions of 
many men of that party in the following remarkable sen- 
tences spoken on July 7, 1801 : "We have now reached 
the consummation of democratic blessedness. We have a 
country governed by blockheads and knaves. . . . Our 
sirnames, the only mark of distinction among families, 
are abolished. . . . Can the imagination paint anything 
more dreadful ? Some parts of the subject are indeed fit 
only for horrid contemplation." On the other hand, 
Hamilton, who asserted that he had " as much reason to 
hate Jefferson as any man," predicted that his adminis- 
tration would be cautious and moderate, — a prediction 
which was abundantly justified by the facts. 

223. Jefferson's Inaugural. — Jefferson was indeed anx- 
ious to moderate the feelings of asperity which had been 
aroused by the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the attempt to 
thwart the wishes of the people by electing Burr President. 
With a few friends he walked from his boarding house to 
the Capitol, took the oath of ofifice, and read his inaugural 
address. "The sum of good government," he declared to 
be " a wise and frugal government which shall restrain men 
from injuring one another, [and] shall leave them other- 
wise free to regulate their own pursuits." Above all^ he 
desired conciliation, saying, "We are all Republicans, we 
are all Federalists," and declared "absolute acquiescence 
in the decisions of the majority [to be] the vital principle 
of republics." He then proceeded to lay down the broad 
lines of his policy as follows : " Equal and exact justice to 
all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or politi- 



i8oi] 



Jefferson's Inaugural 



279 



cal ; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all na- 
tions, entangling alliances with none ; . . . economy in 
the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened ; the 
honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the 
public faith ; encouragement of agriculture, and of com- 
merce as its handmaid ; the diffusion of information, and 
arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason ; freedom 




Albert Gallatin 



of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person. 
. . . Should we wander from them [the above principles] 
in moments of error and alarm, let us hasten to retrace 
our steps and regain the road which alone leads to peace, 
liberty, and safety." In a letter written a few months later 
(May 26, 1801) he said: "To preserve the peace of our 
fellow-citizens, promote their prosperity and happiness, re- 
unite opinion, cultivate a spirit of candor, moderation, char- 
ity, and forbearance towards one another, are objects calling 
for the efforts and sacrifices of every good man and patriot." 



28o The Jefersonian Republicans [§ 224 

Jefferson's 224. The Civil Service. — Jefferson was very fortunate in 

heads of jj^g selection of his leading advisers. He placed Madison 

epar men s. ^^ ^^^ j^^^^ ^^ ^^^ State Department and Gallatin — inferior 




John Marshall 
After a painting by Inman 



only to Hamilton as a financier — at the head of the Treas- 
ury. The new administration found the government offices 
filled with Federalists, owing in great measure to the pro- 
scription of the Republicans by Adams, and by Washington 



[] 



Tlie Civil Service 



281 



during the later years of his presidency. Among these 
office-holders were some of Jefferson's most bitter oppo- 
nents, men who might in all justice be said to have exercised 
"offensive partisanship" or "industrious opposition," as 
he termed it, during the recent struggle. One of these 
was Goodrich, formerly a representative from Connecticut, 
where Federalism was especially rampant. He had resigned 
his seat to accept from President Adams the position of 
Collector of Customs at New Haven. Jefferson removed 
him and appointed in his place a man named Bishop, whose 
son had recently defended Republicanism ' in an address 
before the literary societies of Yale College. The matter 
was made the occasion of the most furious abuse of the 
new President. 

Jefferson was especially indignant at what he termed 
" the indecent conduct [of Adams] in crowding nominations 
after he knew they were not for himself," ahd at the enlarge- 
ment of the Judiciary Department, out of all proportion to 
its work and after the results of the election were known. 
Congress, when it met, repealed the act establishing these 
new courts, and Jefferson refused to deliver commissions 
which Adams and Marshall had left signed at the moment 
of their hasty departure from office. Chief Justice Marshall, 
in the case of Marbury vs. Madison, which was brought to 
compel the delivery of one of these commissions, forgot 
that the legality of his own act was partly in question, and 
while dismissing the case on technical grounds, declared 
as his opinion that Jefferson's proceeding was " not war- 
ranted by law, but violative of a legal vested right." Jef- 
ferson naturally paid no attention to such an expression of 
opinion, and both he and Marshall were too cautious in 
temperament to proceed farther. 

In addition to these removals, and others for which rea- 
sons were assigned, Jefferson, in the course of the first 
fourteen months of his administration, made sixteen re- 
movals without giving reasons, in order, in all probability, 
to make room for Republicans. These dismissals must be 



Removals 
from office. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
II, 6-12. 



Repeal of the 

Judiciary 

Act. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

II. 25. 



Effect of 
Jefferson's 
policy as to 
the civil 
service. 



282 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 



Impeach- 
ment of 
Chase. 
Schouler'; 
United 
States, I, 
460, II, 8( 



deplored, as they furnished the precedent for the whole- 
sale removals by Jackson. But Jefferson was far from using 
the civil service as a reward for party services, as it was 
used in Jackson's time. Indeed, he pointedly refused, on 
more than one occasion, to appoint party workers to 
office. 

225. The Judiciary Department. — This great branch of 
the government remained in the hands of the Federal- 
ists, although many judges of that party were " legis- 
lated out of office " by the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 
1800. In 1803, after the Republicans had been in control 
of the other branches of the government for two years, they 
first used the process of impeachment, the means provided 
in the Constitution to get rid of incapable and ill-behaved 
judges. The first case was that of a district judge, whose 
druiTkenness while in discharge of his office was fully as- 
certained, and the Senate convicted the accused. The 
second case was the impeachment of Samuel Chase of 
Maryland, one of the justices of the Supreme Court. 
Chase's demeanor while presiding at Callender's trial had 
resembled that of a seventeenth century judge, and his 
comments on the conduct of the other two branches of the 
government delivered, while sitting on the bench, would 
now be considered indecent. The impeachment was 
badly managed, however : John Randolph of Roanoke, 
one of the most dramatic figures in American history and 
a man of brilliant talents, conducted the case on behalf of 
the House ; but he was no match in a legal contest with a 
trained lawyer like Chase, who was assisted, moreover, by 
the ablest lawyers in the country. Besides, Chase had 
deserved well of the nation from his patriotic behavior 
during the Revolution, however unbecoming his harangues 
may have been in a judge. Two thirds of the senators were 
not wiUlng to vote him guilty, and the prosecution failed 
(1805). It should be stated that this impeachment seems 
to have been undertaken against the desire and advice of 
the President. 



i8o3] 



The Louisiana Purchase 



283 



226. Financial Policy. ^ — -Between 1792 and 1801, the 
national debt had increased from seventy- seven million to 
nearly eighty-three million dollars. The deficits which 
gave rise to this increase were caused by extraordinary 
expenses in connection with Indian wars and with the 
breach with France. The income of the government had 
grown in a marvellous manner from a little over three and 
one half millions to more than ten and one half millions ; 
but the expenditures had increased even faster, and slightly 
exceeded the receipts in 1800, About three milHons were 
devoted to the payment of interest on the national debt, 
not far from six millions were spent on the army and navy, 
and the remainder was expended on the civil and the diplo- 
matic service. Jefferson and Gallatin at once sketched 
a financial policy which would lead to retrenchments in 
all branches of the government, to a lightening of the bur- 
den of taxation on the people, and to a considerable reduc- 
tion of the public debt. The great increase in expenditures 
had been for warlike purposes, especially for the navy. 
The army was now reduced nearly one half, but the navy was 
more difficult to deal with. If Jefferson could have had 
his way, he would have tied the war ships to the most con- 
venient wharves, under the immediate eye of the depart- 
ment, where they " would require but one set of plunderers 
to take care of them." As it was, the number of vessels 
in commission was reduced from twenty-five to seven. 
Reductions were also made in the civil expenditures at 
the time ; but, later, it was found necessary to increase 
them. The internal revenue taxes were repealed, but the 
increase from the imposts more than made up for this loss 
of revenue. Between 1801 and 1809, the debt was reduced 
from eighty-three millions to forty-five millions, notwith- 
standing the expenditures incurred in the acquisition of 
Louisiana and in the prosecution of the naval wars against 
the Barbary powers. 

227. The Louisiana Purchase, 1803. — France had ceded 
the colony of Louisiana to Spain, in 1763 (§ 105). In 



Financial 

policy. 

Schoulei's 

United 

States, II, 

22-24. 



Retrench- 
ments. 



284 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 227 



Louisiana 
ceded by 
Spain to 
France, i8oo. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 11,40. 



1800, by the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, Spain returned it 
to France, then under the rule of Napoleon. The an- 
nouncement of this change of ownership awakened great 
indignation in the United States, for as long as Louisiana 
was in the hands of Spain, a weak and declining state, 
little fear was felt of the growth of a powerful colony west 
of the Mississippi River. Even Jefferson, averse to war 




Excitement 
in America. 
Contempo- 
raries, 
No. III. 



The United States, 1803 

and friendly to the French, was aroused, and wrote to 
Robert R. Livingston, then Ainerican minister at Pans 
(April, 1802) : "There is on the globe one single spot, the 
possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy ; . . . 
The day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes 
the sentence which is to restrain her [France] forever within 
her low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations, who, 
in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the 
ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the 
British fleet and nation." While affairs were in this condi- 



1S03] Questions arising out of the Purchase 285 



tion of tension, news arrived that tlie Spanish governor at 
New Orleans had withdrawn "the right of deposit " (§ 204), 
presumably that the colony might be handed over to France 
free of all incumbrances. The Westerners were wild with 
excitement, as this meant the practical blocking of their only 
route to the markets of the world. Jefferson at once directed 
Livingston to buy the strip of coast extending eastward from 
the Mississippi and including New Orleans. He also ap- 
pointed Monroe special envoy to conduct this negotiation 
and other important business with foreign governments. 
Livingston pressed the matter on the attention of the French 
government, but without avail. Suddenly Talleyrand, who 
was once again foreign minister, inquired if he wished 
to buy the whole of Louisiana. At this moment Monroe 
reached Paris. The Americans had no instructions to 
acquire this vast territory, but they decided to exceed 
their powers. Negotiations went rapidly forward, and 
they concluded a treaty by which the United States 
acquired Louisiana for fifteen million dollars, of which 
three and three quarter millions were to be used to pay 
claims of Americans for spoliations committed by France 
since 1800. Napoleon is said to have declared that "this 
accession of territory establishes forever the power of the 
United States, and gives to England a maritime rival des- 
tined to humble her pride"; but the real reason for Napo- 
leon's sudden change of front has never been ascertained. 
228. Questions arising out of the Purchase. — Three ques- 
tions of great importance are interesting in this connection : 
(i) the constitutionality of the measure, (2) the limits of 
Louisiana, and (3) the effect of the purchase on the devel- 
opment of the United States. For years Jefferson had 
proclaimed that under the Constitution the federal govern- 
ment possessed such powers only as were expressly delegated 
to it in that instrument. By no possible interpretation 
could the broadest constructionists have found the power to 
acquire territory even implied in any grant of power in 
the Constitution. The President at once declared that the 



Purchased 
by the 
United 
States, 1803. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 478- 
480; Roose- 
velt's West, 
IV, ch. vi; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
49-58. 



Constitu- 
tionality of 
the purchase 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
I, 180-204; 
Contempo- 
raries, 
III, No. 113. 



286 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§228 



Limits of the 
purchase. 



Effects of the 
purchase. 



transaction was " an act beyond the Constitution," and that 
an amendment would be necessary. On reflection, how- 
ever, this was seen to be impossible. Many things might 
happen before an amendment could be adopted : Napoleon 
might change his mind, or the British might seize Louisiana, 
as war was about to break out between France and Great 
Britain. The treaty was ratified as it stood, and Jefferson 
consoled himself with the thought that he was carrying out 
" the will of the people." The Federalists thought otherwise 
and opposed ratification with all the means at their com- 
mand ; some of them even proposed that the Federalist 
states should secede from the Union. 

The territory ceded by France was described in the treaty 
as " the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same 
extent as it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had 
when France possessed it, and such as it should be after 
the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and 
other powers." These were the terms of the cession by 
Spain to France, and more definite boundaries could not 
be obtained from Barb^-Marbois, the French negotiator of 
the treaty. But what did they mean ? New Orleans was 
plainly comprised in the acquisition, but did Louisiana, as 
thus described, include West Florida, which the govern- 
ment was anxious to obtain, and Texas, about which it then 
cared nothing? The United States immediately asserted 
that it included West Florida, but to this assertion Spain 
would not agree, and France refused to interfere. The 
orders issued by the French government when it expected 
to take possession of the country for itself have been 
recently discovered, and show that France and Spain under- 
stood the words in the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, which were 
used in the cession to the United States, to exclude West 
Florida and to include Texas. 

The population of the ceded domain numbered about 
fifty thousand, of which more than one half were negro 
slaves. This addition of a new center of slavery must be 
considered as a disadvantage outweighing many advantages. 



1804] TJie Twelfth Amendment 287 

more especially as the slavery of Louisiana resembled that 
of South Carolina. A large portion of the territory thus 
purchased lay west of the one hundredth meridian, that is, 
beyond the region of abundant rainfall. The settlement 
of this region, with the inevitable result of recurring failure 
of harvests, has given rise to many problems extremely 
difficult of solution. But when all has been said in its 
disfavor, the purchase of Louisiana was one of the most 
fortunate events in the history of the United States. 

229. The Twelfth Amendment, 1804. — As the presiden- 
tial election of 1804 drew near, the leading men in both 
parties resolved to amend the Constitution in such a manner Change in 

as would prevent the recurrence of another scandal similar '^°"^ °' 
1 ■ 1 • electing 

to the attempt to elect Burr President m 1800. The result president, 
was the Twelfth Amendment, declared in force in 1804. Stanwood's 
The old machinery of presidential electors was originally J^f^^ ^"7' 
invented to lessen the supposed ill effects of popular United 
election, and to give a less democratic cast to the gov- States, l\,(yj 
ernment. One would think that the Republicans would 
have seized the opportunity afforded by revision and have 
discarded such an aristocratic institution. Since 1804 
the forces of democracy have completely triumphed over 
this bit of constitutional machinery, — not an elector has 
voted against the wishes of the party which elected him. 
This device made it easier, however, to give the smaller 
states a share in the election of the highest officers in the ' 
nation out of all proportion to their population or impor- 
tance. The great change brought about by this amend- 
ment consisted in havi"ng the electors vote for President 
and Vice-President on separate and distinct ballots. 
This has prevented the recurrence of scandals like that 
of 1800; but it has led to the nomination of inferior 
men to the second place, which was not likely to have 
happened under the older system, as it was then uncer- 
tain which of the party's candidates would be chosen 
President. The amendment further provided that in 
case no candidate for the Chief Magistracy should receive 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 230 



Jefferson 

reelected, 

1804. 

*Stanwood's 

Presidency. 



Aaron Burr. 



He kills 
Hamilton. 



Burr's 

Conspiracy, 

1805-6. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, n, 

133-138, 

139-141. 



a majority of all the electoral votes cast for President, the 
House of Representatives, voting by states, should elect one 
of the three having the highest number of votes (§ 264). 

There was no question of Jefferson's election in 1804 : 
he received one hundred and sixty-two votes, to only four- 
teen given to Charles C. Pinckney, the Federalist candidate 
for first place ; even Massachusetts and New Hampshire 
gave their votes to Jefferson. 

230. Burr's Conspiracy and Trial, 1804-1807. — Aaron 
Burr, the Vice-President, had aroused the resentment of 
the Republicans by his dealings with the Federalists in 
1800. George Clinton, another New York Republican, 
was put forward in 1804 as Republican candidate for 
this office, and was elected. Driven from the Republican 
party, Burr had allied himself with the Federalists of New 
England and had offered himself as an independent candi- 
date for the governorship of New York. He was defeated, 
owing largely to the efforts of Hamilton, whom he now 
challenged to fight a duel and killed at the first shot. 
Hamilton's untimely death in the prime of manhood aroused 
the moral sentiment of the people of the Northern states and 
put an end to dueling in that part of the country ; it made 
Burr an outcast and impelled him to undertake a most des- 
perate venture. It is impossible to say what he expected to 
accomplish : at one time he seems to have had in mind the 
founding of an empire in Texas and Mexico, which should 
descend to his daughter, Theodosia; at another time, the 
venture took the shape of the formation of a new republic in 
the country west of the Alleghanies. Burr gathered arms, 
ammunition, and men and descended the Mississippi towards 
New Orleans, where he expected to receive the aid of Gen- 
eral Wilkinson, the Unitec" States coitimander in Louisiana. 
For some time Jefferson took no notice of his movements, 
but finally issued a proclamation for his capture ; Wilkin- 
son hesitated as to whether he should betray his country 
or his friend, and in the end decided to sacrifice Burr. 
The latter abandoned his companions and endeavored to 



[8os] 



Burros Conspiracy and Trial 



289 



escape from the country to Spanish Florida. He was 
captured at a frontier town and taken to Richmond for 
trial before the federal Circuit Court. 

John Marshall, the Chief Justice, presided at the trial. Burr's trial, 
Among other things, he ordered the President to attend as ^^°7- 




Theodosia Burr 



a witness with the records of the War Department. Jeffer- 
son refused to heed the summons, but offered to send any 
papers which might be necessary. Even Federalist writers 
condemn this action of Marshall. The trial ended abruptly, 



290 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 231 



Relations 
with Great 
Britain, 
1800-3. 



Change in 
British 
policy, 1805. 



as the Chief Justice declared that an overt act of treason 
must be first proved, and then Burr connected with it. 
The Constitution defines treason as consisting "only in 
levying war against them [the United States], or in adher- 
ing to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." Burr 
had never been in a position to levy war, and the prosecu- 
tion for treason stopped at that point ; nor was the govern- 
ment able to convict him of misdemeanor. 

231. Attacks on Neutral Trade, 1800-1808. — Jay's 
treaty had fully justified its existence by securing partial 
immunity from British hostility to American commerce 
during the struggle between Great Britain and France which 
ended in 1802 by the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens. 
During this time, the Americans were able to prosecute a 
most thriving trade with the Spanish and French West 
Indies. The British refused to permit the Americans to 
carry West Indian produce from the Spanish and French 
islands direct to Spain and France ; but they had no objec- 
tion to such commerce when pursued indirectly through 
some United States port, provided the foreign goods were 
landed on a wharf and duty paid. Under these circum- 
stances American trade flourished greatly, and this pros- 
perity continued during the earlier years of the war against 
Napoleon, which began in 1804. 

This successful commerce had aroused the jealousy of 
English shipowners, and they implored the younger Pitt, 
who was now Prime Minister, to put an end to the favors 
granted America ; and there were not wanting persons to 
argue that the action of the Americans was so beneficial 
to England's enemies as to be " war in disguise." Pitt 
decided to enforce the "Rule of War of 1756" (§ 201) 
to the letter, and thus put an end to all American trade to 
the West Indies. The British vessels made seizures right 
and left, and, as a matter of fact, Great Britain practically 
began war against the United States (1805). 

The conflict between Great Britain and Napoleon had 
»p\y reached a point where it seemed impossible for the 



i8o6] 



Decrees and Orders 



291 



leading combatants to attack one another : Napoleon was 
supreme on the continent of Europe, and Britain was undis- 
puted mistress of the seas. The belligerents thereupon 
endeavored to injure one another indirectly ; but the real 
sufferers during this later time were the American ship- 
owners, whose vessels were almost the only neutral ships 
on the ocean. 

232. Decrees and Orders, 1806-1 810. — Napoleon began 
the contest by closing the recently captured ports of Ham- 
burg and Bremen to British commerce, thus cutting off a 
profitable trade between Great Britain and Germany. The 
British government retaliated by declaring a blockade of 
the coast of the continent from Brest to the Elbe (May 16, 
1S06), which was enforced only between the Seine and 
Ostend. Napoleon replied to this by the issue of the 
Berlin Decree (November 21, 1806), declaring the British 
Islands to be "in a state of blockade." He also forbade 
all trade in British goods throughout the lands under French 
control, which soon included all of continental Europe 
except Norway, Sweden, and Turkey. 

Jay's treaty was about to expire by limitation, and it was 
found impossible to induce the British government to enter 
into a new agreement on a reasonable basis. On December 
I, 1806, Monroe and William Pinkney signed, on behalf 



French ami 

British 

decrees and 

orders, 

1806-10. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, II, 

151-160. 



Treaty with 
Great 

Britain, 1806 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 480. 




of the United States, a new treaty, which contained many 
stipulations dishonorable to their country, among them a 
provision that the "Rule of War of 1756 " would not be 
enforced in respect to goods upon which a two per cent ad 
valorem duty had been paid, on condition that no part of 
the duty had been returned as a " drawback." Neither 
impressment of American seamen nor indemnity for Brit- 
ish seizures were mentioned. Euthermore, the American 
negotiators consented to receive a note to the effect that 



292 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 233 



British 
Orders in 
Council, 
1807. 



American 
naturaliza- 
tion papers. 



The " right 
of search." 



the British government would not consider itself bound by 
the provisions of the treaty unless the United States would 
resist the enforcement of the Berlin Decree. Jefferson sent 
the treaty back to Great Britain without formally laying it 
before the Senate. 

Early in the next year (January 7, 1807) the British gov- 
ernment issued an Order in Council closing to neutral com- 
merce the ports of the continent, save those limited regions 
that were not under French control. Later (November 
II, 1807), another Order in Council authorized the seizure 
of any neutral vessel while on a voyage to any of the closed 
ports, unless such vessel had first touched at a British port. 
In the Milan Decree, Napoleon retorted by authorizing 
the seizure of any vessel that had entered a British port 
(December 17, 1807). As the British controlled the ocean 
and Napoleon the continent of Europe these decrees meant 
the destruction of the American carrying trade. With Great 
Britain, moreover, the United States had another cause of 
grievance, — the controversy as to impressment. 

233. The Impressment Controversy, 1793-1807 — The 
contest with France had hardly opened in 1793 ere British 
naval captains began stopping American vessels on the high 
seas, and taking seamen from them for service in the 
British navy. Some of the sailors impressed in this rnanner 
were subjects of the British crown, but many more were 
men who had given up their allegiance to Britain, and 
had become naturalized citizens of the United States 
or of some one state. Moreover, it was impossible to 
distinguish an Englishman from a native-born citizen of 
the United States, and many Americans were impressed, 
notwithstanding their statements as to the place of their 
birth. As the war progressed, the British practically block- 
aded the more important American ports and removed 
seamen from outgoing vessels before they had lost sight of 
land. Two very important questions at once arose : the 
" right of search " and the value of naturalization papers. 

The American government denied the right of foreign 



1807] The Outrage on the Chesapeake 293 

cruisers to stop American vessels on the high seas for any 
purpose whatsoever except to ascertain their nationahty. 
This position the United States maintained forever after- 
wards (§§ 297, 350). But Great Britain paid no heed to 
the American protests. The American system of naturaU- 
zation was based on acts of Parhament : the first of these, 
which was passed in 1 740, provided that foreign Protestants 
residing in the colonies for seven years and taking certain 
oaths should enjoy full civil rights in the colonies and 
many important privileges in Britain itself: the colonial 
assemblies, too, had passed acts for the naturalization of 
foreigners in the several colonies, oftentimes after a very 
brief period of residence, and the British government had 
not repealed or disallowed these acts. The naturahzation 
system of the United States in 1807 was a reproduction of 
this colonial system, with the important exception that 
there was no longer a religious qualification. The British 
authorities, however, would not recognize it as in any way 
lessening the allegiance due from a British-born person to 
the British crown. There was undoubtedly some justifica- 
tion for the view British officers held as to naturalization ; 
for in some states it was only necessary for a deserter 
from an English ship to appear before the official in charge 
of the matter in order to receive naturalization papers. 
Under these circumstances, whole crews deserted, and 
many vessels were detained in port in consequence. The 
real cause of these desertions was to be found in the hard- 
ships of the British naval service, — the lack of good 
food and quarters, the harshness of the discipline, and the 
low rate of wages paid to the sailors. These hardships 
were so great that the British seamen preferred to expatri- 
ate themselves rather than serve on British men-of-war. 
The British government, however, was not prepared to take 
this view and preferred to press British seamen wherever 
found. 

234. The Outrage on the Chesapeake, 1807. — The mat- 
ter reached a crisis on June 27, 1807, when the British ship 



294 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 235 



The 

Chesapeake 
and the 
Leopard, 
1807. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, 
11,163; 
Contempo- 
raries, 
III, No. 119. 



The 

embargo, 

1807. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, II, 

178-199. 



Leopard fired on the American Chesapeake, boarded her, 
and removed from her decks three American citizens 
and one British subject. Jefferson at once issued a procla- 
mation ordering all British war vessels out of the waters of 
the United States, and forbidding any intercourse with 
them or the furnishing them with any supplies. He also 
demanded redress, but attempted to couple with the Chesa- 
peake outrage the whole question of impressment. The 
British authorities, on their part, disavowed the admiral by 
whose orders the outrage had been committed, but refused 
to give up impressment. While affairs were in this critical 
condition, the Order in Council of November, 1807, was 
issued. It is hardly conceivable that such a question should 
have been made the basis of party action, yet the Federal- 
ists denounced the President's proclamation as favoring 
the French, and the- Northern merchants protested against 
anything being done that savored of hostility to Great 
Britain. 

235. Jefferson's Embargo Policy, 1807, 1808. — In April, 

1806, at the time of the enforcement of the " Rule of War of 
1756," Congress had passed an act forbidding the importa- 
tion of goods from Great Britain or the British colonies after 
November 15, of that year. This limit was further extended, 
and the prohibition did not go into effect until December, 

1807, By that time, however, Jefferson deemed sterner 
measures necessary, and recommended an embargo. Con- 
gress at once fell in with the President's wishes and passed 
an act forbidding American vessels to leave the ports of the 
United States for foreign ports, and prohibiting foreign ves- 
sels to sail except with the cargo actually on board. Embar- 
goes were no new thing in the history of the United States ; 
they had hitherto been for limited periods and had been 
regarded as precursors of war, although no war had fol- 
lowed (§ 201). The policy of commercial restriction had 
been often used with great effect, as at the time of the 
Stamp Act and the Townshehd duties (§ 131). Able 
and far-seeing men, as Sir John Seeley and Edward 



1807] Efects of the Embargo 295 

Atkinson, have recognized the fact that commerce, so far 
from making for peace among mankind, has been the cause 
of many of the great struggles of modern days. Jefferson's 
idea was to revive the policy of the Revolutionary epoch 
and to put a pressure on Great Britain and France by 
restricting their dealings with the United States. But cir- 
cumstances were changed : the American people were no 
longer united, as they had been in the earlier time ; and it 
proved to be impossible to enforce the embargo policy in 
America. Even the Enforcement Act of 1808 proved of The Enforce- 
little value. This act required the owners of coasting I'^^ent Act, 
vessels before the cargo was placed on board to give bonds 
to six times the value of the vessel and, if necessary, obliging 
them to land the goods in the United States. This 
requirement indicated one method of evasion of the 
Embargo Act, by vessels clearing for a coastwise port and 
then sailing to a foreign port. Another clause of the 
Enforcement Act was designed to prevent the evasion 
of the law by carrying goods overland to Canada or New 
Brunswick. This section authorized collectors of customs 
to seize goods " in any manner apparently on their way 
toward the territory of a foreign nation or the vicinity 
thereof." Even this severe measure could not secure the 
enforcement of the embargo ; it led, however, to resistance 
to federal authority on Lake Champlain and threatened to 
lead to more formidable armed resistance in New England. 

236. Effects of the Embargo. — It is difficult to say Effect of the 
precisely what effect the embargo had, either at home embargo 
or abroad. It probably hastened a commercial crisis in Britain. 
Great Britain, which would have occurred had there been 
no embargo. This crisis affected the working classes of 
Britain, but as they had no political power their wishes for 
a change in England's commercial policy passed unheeded. 
The rulers of Britain regarded the embargo as rather bene- 
ficial to her interests, inasmuch as it operated to weaken 
the Republican party in the North and to increase the 
strength and energy of the Federalists. 



296 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 237 



On France. 



On America. 



Non- 
Intercourse 
Act, 1809. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
207-219. 



Napoleon welcomed it and made it the excuse for two 
more decrees: one of them, issued at Bayonne (1808), 
directed the seizure of all American vessels, on the 
ground that no ship flying the flag of the United States 
could legally navigate the seas ; the other decree, issued at 
Rambouillet (1810), ordered the confiscation of vessels 
then in French hands. 

In America, the embargo pressed heavily on Jefferson's 
political supporters, the tobacco planters of Virginia, as 
large portions of their tobacco crops were unsalable. 
Many planters were ruined ; others were seriously crippled. 
The shipowners of New England and the Middle states saw 
their ships lying idle when rates of freights were at the 
"highest point. They evaded the law as long as they could, 
and at length, when' forced to desist, they turned their atten- 
tion to manufacturing. From a constitutional and political 
point of view, the embargo worked a positive benefit, as 
the attempts to enforce it compelled the Republicans to 
resort to the implied powers under the Constitution, and 
to adopt almost the ground occupied by the Federalists 
in 1798, which Jefferson and Madison had so strongly con- 
demned in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. By 
January, 1809, it was evident that to avoid civil strife the 
embargo policy must be abandoned. Madison had mean- 
time been elected President (November, 1808), and to him 
Jefferson confided the initiation of a new policy. 

237. The Non-Intercourse Act, 1809. — In February, 
1809, it became known that Madison was in favor of a 
removal of the embargo in the following June ; but no 
sooner was the subject of repeal brought forward in Con- 
gress, than it was decided to repeal the embargo law at 
once. In its place was substituted a non-intercourse law. 
This would still prohibit commerce with Great Britain and 
France, but would, on the other hand, permit it with the 
few countries not under the control of either of the bel- 
ligerents. The new policy, which was a better method 
of carrying out Jefferson's commercial theories, went into 



i8o9] 



Non-Intercourse Act 



297 



operation on the day of Madison's inauguration, March 
4, 1809. Instantly, there was a great revival in the carrying 
trade ; for, although Russia had now joined France in the 
continental system, Spain and Portugal were now free. 
This period witnessed a complete breaking down of the 
ordinary rules of international and commercial honesty. 




James Madison 

Napoleon gave licenses without number to British vessels to 
bring goods sorely needed by his soldiers into continental 
ports, while American papers, forged for the purpose, and 
also British protections, were openly sold in London. The 
neutrals profited most by this reign of commercial distress 
and corruption ; the gains of American shipowners were 
enormous, although American vessels were constantly cap- 
tured by the belligerents. 

238. The Erskine Treaty, 1809. — At first, fortune ap- 
peared about to smile on Madison ; a new British minister, 



298 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 239 



Treaty with 

Great 

Britain, i8og 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

11,313- 



Macon's 
Bill, No. 2. 



The 

President 
and Little 
Belt. 
Maclay's 
Navy, I, 314. 



Mr. Erskine, appeared at Washington, and concluded a treaty 
obliging Great Britain to withdraw the Orders in Council. 
Madison thereupon suspended non-intercourse with Great 
Britain. But Erskine had exceeded his instructions ; the 
British government disavowed him, refused to ratify the 
treaty, and Madison was obliged to proclaim a renewal of 
non-intercourse with that country. The next British envoy 

was named Jackson. He 
proceeded to insult Madi- 
son, accusing him of hav- 
ing deceived Erskine, and 
repeated the accusation. 
Madison declined to com- 
municate further with him 
and sent him home. 

On May i, 18 10, Con- 
gress substituted for the 
Non-Intercourse Act a 
modified commercial pol- 
icy, which was contained 
in a bill known as Macon's 
Bill, No. 2, from the name 
of the member who in- 
troduced it. This law provided for the immediate cessation 
of non-intercourse ; but in case one of the belligerents should 
revoke his decrees or orders, and the other should not, non- 
intercourse should be proclaimed against the refractory coun- 
try. Both France and Great Britain promised to change 
their policy as soon as the other changed his. But that was 
all they would do. So the offensive decrees and orders con- 
tinued, and so, too, did non-intercourse. 

239. Declaration of War, 1812. — In the gathering gloom 
of a May evening (181 1), the American frigate President 
and the British sloop of war Liftk Belt found themselves 
near together. Owing to some mischance, not now clearly 
discernible, they fired on each other, and the Little Belt 
was badly crippled. This affair induced the American 




Mrs. Madison 



i8i2] Declaration of War 299 

people to feel more kindly about the Chesapeake outrage, 
and reparation was accepted without a settlement of the 
whole question of impressment, which in this way remained 
to keep alive a spirit of resentment toward the British 
nation. Another cause of ill feeling was the ever-recurring 
Indian troubles in the West, some of which were plainly 
traceable to British intrigues. The most formidable of 
these was a revolt set on foot by an energetic Indian chief 
named Tecumthe or Tecumseh, who had formed a strong 
Indian federation. Gathering a small force of regulars, 
and volunteers from among the settlers of the West, Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison marched to the principal Indian town 
on Tippecanoe River and inflicted a crushing defeat on the 
Indians (181 1). Tecumthe joined the British, and thus 
Justified the suspicions of the Western settlers. 

Another cause of the approaching conflict was the tone of Cause of the 
self-satisfied superiority with which the British government ^^"^ °^ ^f ^^* 
and people were accustomed not merely to look upon the orations 
American people, but to speak of them, and even to address I, 205-215. 
representatives of the United States government. For 
example. Lord Liverpool, at the moment Prime Minister, 
declared in 18 13 from his place in Parliament that America 
" ought to have looked to this country as the guardian power 
to which she was indebted not only for her comforts, not 
only for her rank in the scale of civilization, but for her 
very existence." The impressment controversy was now 
at its height, and British hostility to American commerce 
was as keen as ever. Bearing all these things in mind, it is 
not to be wondered at that the United States declared war 
against Great Britain ; it is indeed remarkable that the 
outbreak of hostilities was postponed until 1812. 

The declaration of war was the work of a new set of Declaration 
political leaders, whose influence for good or evil was to "f^*""' ^^^^• 
dominate American pohtics for the next forty years. Fore- 
most among them was Henry Clay, born in Virginia, but 
now living in Kentucky ; perhaps no American politician 
has ever had a more faithful band of followers or has ever 



300 



The Jefersonian Republicans 



[§ 239 



Henry Clay. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

11,372; 

Schurz's 

Clay. 

John C. 
Calhoun. 
Von Hoist's 
Calhoun. 



Daniel 
Webster. 
Lodge's 
Webster ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
HI, 298. 



shown worse judgment. Henry Clay entered the House 
of Representatives for the first time in 181 1, and was at 
once elected Speaker. Another of the newcomers was 
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina ; at this period he was 
an ardent advocate of nationalization and of devoting the 
federal resources to the promotion of the general welfare of 
the people, — especially, he advocated a policy of protection 
to " young industries." Subsequently, he became the cham- 
pion of the other side, and by his fearlessness and power- 
fully logical faculties set forth the cause of states' rights in 
the clearest and most forcible manner. Two years later, 
Daniel Webster of New Hampshire, the third of this group, 
entered Congress. 

Clay represented the unrest of the Western people and 
their desire for the conquest of Canada. With the aid of 
other new men, he forced from the reluctant President his 
consent to a declaration of war against Great Britain. It 
is said that Madison was given to understand that his 
renornination for the presidency depended on his agreeing 
to this policy ; it is certain that he was drawn into the con- 
flict against his wishes ; but the New England Federalists 
always called it " Mr. Madison's War." 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 



§§ 213-222. The United States in 1800 

a. What relations can you trace between the American Revolution, 
the French Revolution, and the "Revolution of 1800"? 

b. What means did the American people take " to elevate the intel- 
lectual and material position of the average citizen " ? 

c. How do you account for the fact that the white population in- 
creased much more rapidly .a the free states than in the slave states? 

d. What is meant by saying that " the American people came into 
existence" in the period extending from 1800 to 1829? 

'e. What are the two most important stocks of the human race? 
Name the chief branches of the Aryan stock, and the principal con- 
tributions to civilization made by each. 

/ Where besides in America have important amalgamations of Ger- 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 301 

manic and Keltic races taken place? What complementary qualities 
do these two races possess? 

g. Has any other material force so controlled the history of the 
United States as cotton? • 

§§ 223-226, 229-230. DOMEiTIC AFKAIRS 

a. Read and compare the first inaugurals of Washington, Jefl'erson, 
and Lincoln. 

/'. Place as heading in note-book " Spoils System and Civil Service 
Reform." Who began the system of partisan appointments? 

c. How does the Constitution define treason? Define as precisely 
as you can the following phrases : " levying war," " against them," 
" their enemies," " adhering to," " aid and comfort." Can one of the 
United States be guilty of treason? Is civil war treason? 

(/. Look up the history of Massachusetts 1800-15 : do you regard 
it as creditable? Give your reasons. 

§§ 227-228. The Louisiana Purchase 

a. Sketch the ownership of Louisiana under the following heads : 
discovery, settlement, cession of 1763, "right of deposit," retrocession 
to France. 

6. Why were the Federalists opposed to the Louisiana Purchase? 
Discuss the effects of the purchase upon the West, the South, the East, 
the general government. 

f. Does the "general welfare" clause empower the federal gov- 
ernment to acquire territory? Under what clause of the Constitution 
can you find such power? 

§§ 231-239. Foreign Relations 

a. State the specific purpose of each hostile commercial ordinance 
of the two belligerents. 

i. Describe Great Britain's impressment policy. What reasons can 
you suggest for her refusal to recognize the validity of American 
naturalization papers? 

c. The embargo : discuss its constitutionality ; its effect on constitu- 
tional development. What industrial revolution did it forward in New 
England? 

Historical Geography 

a. Make all necessary changes in your maps, and justify these 
changes by recitation. 



302 The Jefersonian Republicans 

General Questions 

a. Mention, with some account of their contents, the chief political 
documents of this epoch (1783-1812). Give a brief sketch of the 
careers of their authors. 

b. Subjects for reports based on secondary material: (i) What is 
the relation between the growth of manufacturing enterprises and the 
growth of cities ? (2) Compare the factory agitation in England with 
the emancipation movement in America. (3) Thomas Jefferson : his 
personal influence over his official advisers, over Congress ; contrast 
his theoretical language and his practical conduct ; discuss his honesty, 
his statesmanship ; describe his influence in retirement and the influ- 
ence of his name. (4) John Marshall : his career ; instances of col- 
lision between the Judiciary and the Executive ; the cases which form 
epochs in constitutional history ; (5) trace the history of free and 
slave territory to 1819. 

c. Compare the momentous changes in the political life of the 
United States between 1801 and 1809. 



As preparation for the next two chapters study the following 
questions : 

a. Taxation: arguments for and against direct taxation ; should 
direct taxation be levied on capital, on income, or on expenditure? 
should the same percentage be levied on all equal amounts? what 
forms of indirect taxation are the most eligible? give Mill's seven 
practical rules for indirect taxation ; under which class does excise 
come? customs duties? is it desirable to defray extraordinary public 
expenses by loans? state reasons. 

b. Look up in Mill's Political Econotnv the passage which says that 
protection may be justifiable under certain conditions, and apply it to 
the United States in 1816, 1824, 1833, i842» 1857, 1861, 1S97, and 1913. 

c. Place in note-book the two headings, " Protection," " Free- 
trade," and enter fitting matter under them as you proceed. 

d. Read Fawcett's Free-trade and Protection and Hoyt's Protection 
vs. Free-trade, and compare the arguments. 



CHAPTER IX 

WAR AND PEACE, 1812-1829 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, 77-108; Hig- 
ginson's Larger History, 365-442; Hart's Formation of the Union, 
203-262; Walker's Making of the Nation, 230-273. 

Special Accounts. — ^Schouler's United States ; Wilson's Preside>tts ; 
* Von Hoist's Constitutional History; *H. Adams's United States ; 
Morse's /. Q. Adams; Gay's James Madison; Von Hoist's y^/zM C. 
Calhoun; hodge^s Daniel IVebster ; 'Hz.s.stt.i's Andrew Jackson ; Ta.\xs- 
sig's Tariff History ; Turner's The Ne'M West; Larned's History for 
Ready Reference. Larger biographies of the leading statesmen, 
Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — Writings of the leading statesmen, Guide, §§46, 47; 
Benton's Abridgment ; Williams's Statesman'' s A/anual ; Johnston's 
American Orations; Young's Customs- Tariff Legislation; Taussig's 
State Papers ; Stedman and Hutchinson, Library of American Litera- 
ture ; MacDonald's Documetitary Source Book. 

Maps. — MacCoun's LListorical Geography ; Hart's Epoch Maps, 
Nos. 7, 8, ID, II ; Winsor's America ; Walker's Statistical Atlas; 
Scribner's Statistical Atlas. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American LListory, §§ 191-199. 

Illustrative Material. — * McMaster's United States; Lossing's 
Field-Book of the War of 18 12 ; Armstrong's War of 18 12 ; Roose- 
velt's A'^zz'a/ War of 1812 ; Maclay's United States Navy; Cooper's 
United States Navy; James's Naval LListory of Great Britain; 
Cogge.%\\a\V% American Privateers ; Goodrich's Recollections ; Sullivan's ■ 
Familiar Letters; J. Q. Adams's Diary ; Bishop's American Manu- 
factures ; King's New Orleans ; Barnes's Yankee Ships ; Quincy's 
Figures of the Past ; Hunt's Forty Years of Washington Society. 

Hildreth's The Slave ; Longstreet's Georgia Scenes ; Paulding's 
Lay of the Scottish Fiddle; Freneau's Poems. 

WAR AND PEACE, 1812-1829 

240. Nature of the Conflict. — Perhaps no conflict has 
ever been undertaken with so little thought as to the means 

303 



304 War and Peace [§ 240 

Lack of of carrying it to a successful termination as the War of 181 2. 

preparation 'pj^g excise tax of the Federahst period had been repealed 

for war. i , ,, , • r i i • i 

and nearly all the income of the government was derived 
from the customs revenue, which at once dwindled as 
imports declined. At first, Congress was unwilling to aug- 
ment this diminishing revenue by imposing direct taxes ; 
but in 181 3 the increasing pressure of the war overcame 
even Repubhcan scruples, and Congress imposed direct 
taxes on such articles as furniture and watches, and even 
on slaves. Congress also levied an excise. The war cost 
from thirty to forty millions for each year that it was waged ; 
but the total revenue never exceeded ten millions per year. 
These deficits had to be made good by borrowing. As the 
war progressed, the credit of the government constantly 
declined, until finally loans were effected at far below their 
face value. 

The miUtary forces were very ineffective. The Republi- 
cans had steadily opposed keeping up an efficient military 
organization. The war was very unpopular in the North, 
whence most of the soldiers and money were necessarily 
drawn, as that was the most populous and the richer portion 
of the country. This dislike of the war appeared when the 
government endeavored to summon the militia to take part 
in the invasion of Canada. The Constitution authorized 
Congress to ."provide for calling forth the militia" for three 
specific purposes : "to execute the laws of the Union, sup- 
press insurrections, and repel invasions." The governors 
of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire refused 
to send militia out of their respective states, and the gov- 
ernor of Vermont recalled the Vermont miUtia when it was 
sent outside of the limits of the state. The old difficulty 
(§ 159) of enlisting men in the regular army for the war 
or for a term of years at once recurred. Bounties were 
offered in vain, and even the enlistment of minors, without 
their parents' consent, was resorted to. Had the contest 
continued much longer, resort would probably have been 
had to a draft. In these circumstances it was fortunate 



l8l2] 



Campaigns of 1812-1814 



305 



that the British prosecuted the war but feebly during the 
years 181 2 and 181 3. 

241. Campaigns of 1812-1814. — The invasion of Canada 
was begun with an ignorance and contempt of the necessi- 
ties of the campaign that augured ill for success. It ended 
in failure (1812). On the other hand, the victory of the 
Americans under Commodore Oliver H. Perry, on Lake 
Erie (1813), made impossible an English occupation of 
American territory, and left the combatants practically 
where they were at the outbreak of hostilities. 

The campaign of 181 4 was much more vigorously man- 
aged by both combatants. On the American side abler 
men came to the front. One of them was Jacob Brown, a 
New York mihtia general, who had been bred a Quaker, as 
had Nathanael Greene. He had never seen service in the 
field, but possessed energy and courage ; and he was ably 
assisted by his subordinates, Winfield Scott and Eleazer 
Ripley. He accomplished nothing in the way of conquest, 
but repelled all attempts at invasion in his part of the field. 
Indeed, one of the battles of his campaign, Lundy's Lane, 
where a small body of Americans withstood the onslaught 
of a body of British veterans, was a most creditable affair, 
especially as it occurred in the darkness, which is peculiarly 
trying to soldiers who have not had years of experience. 
The British undertook a counter invasion of the United States 
by way of Lake Champlain ; but McDonough's victory gave 
the control of the lake to the Americans, and the British 
retired to Canada. (1814). 

The summer that saw this victory witnessed also the 
disgraceful flight of the Americans from Bladensburg, and 
the unjustifiable burning of the public buildings at Wash- 
ington by the British under General Ross and Admiral 
Cochrane. A subsequent attack on Baltimore was gallantly 
repelled by its American defenders, with considerable loss 
to the assailants. 

242. The British Defeat at New Orleans, 1814, 1815. — 
By this time it had become evident that British success in 

X 



Invasion of 

Canada, 

1812-13. 

Winsor's 

America, 

¥11,382-385, 

387-392. 



Failure of 

British 

invasion, 

1814. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 393- 

400; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

11,397.446- 



Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 396; 



Burning of 

Washington, 

1814. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 400-402. 



3o6 



War and Peace 



[§ 243 



New 

Orleans, 

1814-15. 

Winsor's 

America, 

403-404 ; 

Schouler's 

United 

States, II, 

457, 485-491- 



New 
Orleans, 
1814-15. 
King's New 
Orleans, 
ch. xi. 



The navy. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 378; 

Roosevelt's 

Naval War 

0/1812. 



the interior of the North was uncertain until the control 
either of the Great Lakes or of Lake Champlain was in 
their hands. The capture of New Orleans offered the best 
chance of permanent conquest : it was within reach of the 
sea, was far removed from the thickly settled part of the 
United States ; and its possession would give the British 
important and far-reaching influence in the whole Missis- 
sippi valley. Pakenham, one of Wellington's Peninsular 
commanders, was given a formidable body of troops and 
ordered to attempt its capture ; with him co-operated a 
large naval force. 

The command of the defense of the lower Mississippi 
and neighboring regions was confided to Andrew Jackson 
of Tennessee. At first he seems to have misjudged 
Pakenham's purpose, and delayed preparations for defense 
until it was almost too late. At last, when he was con- 
vinced that the British general designed to seize New 
Orleans, he made every possible preparation to repel the 
attack ; in this he was greatly aided by the peculiarities of 
the country around New Orleans, which will be described 
when we reach Farragut's capture of that city (§ 351). 
Pakenham attacked vigorously, though with small military 
skill; he was repulsed with great loss to his army. The 
last assault on the defenses of New Orleans was made on 
January 8, 181 5, two weeks after the signing of the treaty 
of peace at Ghent. A month later (February 11, 181 5), 
the British captured an American fort on Mobile Bay, their 
only success during this arduous campaign. 

243. The War on the Sea, 1812-1815. — On the land, where 
their numbers gave them an advantage, the Americans were 
on the whole unsuccessful ; on the water, where their guns 
were outnumbered one hundred to one, they won successes 
which still render the War of 181 2 memorable in naval 
annals. At the beginning of the conflict, the British navy 
comprised over one thousand vessels, of which two hun- 
dred were line of battle ships of two or three decks ; there 
was not even one two-decker in the United States navy. 



i8i2] The War on the Sea 307 

Moreover, the American vessels were not merely inferior in 
size to the British, there were very few of them, — seven- 
teen vessels in all. Three of them, the United States, 
Constitution, and President, were large, heavy frigates rated 
as " forty-fours," and there were also four smaller frigates 
and several sloops of war and brigs. 

The government deemed it unwise to send these vessels Naval 
to sea to be captured by the fleets of Great Britain, and conflicts, 
decided to use them as guard ships at the principal ports. America 
A difficulty at once presented itself, however, for the ves- VI 1, 379-382, 
sels were not in the ports designed for them ; and it was ^ * 
necessary to send them to sea to enable them to perform even 
this limited duty. Among the first to leave port was the 
Constitution, commanded by Captain Hull. On her way 
from the Chesapeake to New York harbor, her designated 
place of duty, she was sighted by a British squadron of five 
ships and chased from July 17 to July 20. In the end, 
Hull saved his ship and found refuge at Boston. Sailing 
thence, with no new orders, he cruised about for two 
weeks, until August 19, when he sighted the British frigate 
Guerriere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The combat which 
followed has been made the subject of so much apology 
on the part of British writers that it is well to bear in 
mind the comparative size of the two ships. Mr. Henry 
Adams thus states the facts in his authoritative History of 
the United States during the Administrations of Jefferson and 
Madison. The American frigate was one hundred and 
seventy-three feet long and forty-four feet wide ; she car- 
ried thirty- two " long 24's " and twenty " 32 lb. " carronades, 
or fifty-two guns in all. Her sides were very solid for a 
ship of her class, but notwithstanding the extra weight she 
was very fast. The Guerrih-e was one hundred and fifty- 
six feet long and forty feet wide ; she carried thirty " long 
i8's," two "long 12's," and sixteen "32 lb." carronades, or 
forty-eight guns in all. She was not so strongly built as 
her opponent, nor so fast, and she threw a much lighter 
broadside. Both Captain Hull of the Constitution and 



3o8 War and Peace [§ 243 

Captain Dacres of the Guerriere were skill'ful, brave men, 
and the crews of both ships were well trained, although the 
Guerriere's crew had been longer together. In thirty 
minutes after the first gun was fired, the British frigate lay 
helpless on the water, with seventy-nine of her crew killed 
or wounded. The Constitution, on the other hand, suffered 
trifling loss or damage, and was ready for another combat. 
On October 17 the American sloop of war Wasp met the 
British brig Frolic. The Wasp threw a lighter broadside 
than the Frolic, and, although rigged as a ship, was only 
six feet longer. In forty-three minutes after the beginning 
of the combat, the Froiic was a wreck, with ninety of her 
crew of one hundred and ten killed and wounded. In both 
cases the result was due to the superior practice of the 
American gunners and to the fact that the charges of powder 
used by the British were less than those used by the Ameri- 
cans for guns of the same caliber. It is said that shot from 
the Guerriere rebounded harmlessly from the sides of the 
Constitution, and the guns of the Frolic, more than equal 
in weight to those of the Wasp, produced, comparatively 
speaking, no impression on her antagonist. 
Effects of The effect of these victories was tremendous. For a 

these victo- century and a half the British had enjoyed undisputed 
supremacy on the ocean ; ship for ship, they had encoun- 
tered the navies of France and Spain, and had been almost 
uniformly successful. Instead of seeking the true cause for 
these defeats, in the light armaments of their vessels and 
in the character of their impressed crews, the British public 
magnified the Constitution into a " line of battle ship in 
disguise," and suggested that in future it would be best 
for British frigates to sail in company. There were many 
other naval actions during the contest which are described 
at length in the histories of the war and need not be men- 
tioned here. As the conflict progressed, the blockade oif 
the American ports became closer and closer ; few of the 
national vessels gained the open sea, and those that did 
were gradually captured. In the later years, the privateers 



nes 



I8I4] 



The Privateers 



309 



almost alone displayed the flag of the United States on the 
ocean. 

244. The Privateers. — Mr. Henry Adams has suggested 
that it would have been better policy for the United States 
to have used the national vessels to destroy the merchant 
vessels of England. Men-of-war capturing British mer- 
chantmen would have destroyed them ; the privateers, whose 
interest was to make money from the sale of prizes, sent 
them home, and about one half were recaptured. As it 
was, the privateersnien dealt a terrible blow to Britain's 
commerce. In the course of the war they captured more 
than two thousand five hundred British vessels, some of 
them within sight of the coast of England. Rates of insur- 
ance on British vessels rose to almost prohibitory figures, 
even for the shortest voyages. English merchants and ship- 
owners whose self-seeking had largely contributed to bring 
on the war, now besought the government to conclude 
peace ; to this end McDonough's victory on Lake Cham- 
plain powerfully contributed. 

245. Negotiations for Peace, 1812-1814. — From an inter- 
national point of view, the War of 181 2 was a terrible mis- 
fortune. Great Britain was then engaged in a deadly struggle 
with the military despotism that threatened to overwhelm 
popular freedom wherever it existed in the world. No doubt 
Napoleon had dealt a beneficial blow to feudal institutions, 
but he had already done all the good that he was Hkely to 
do in that way. In 181 2 the cause of humanity and civili- 
zation demanded his overthrow. True policy dictated the 
alliance of Great Britain and the United States to destroy 
the master despot of the age. Instead of joining together 
against the common enemy, they came to blows, but this was 
the fault of Britain's rulers, not of the American people. 

Four days after the declaration of war against Great 
Britain, Napoleon and the Czar renewed their former 
enmity, because Russia would no longer close the Baltic 
ports to neutral commerce. The Czar at once offered to 
mediate between Great Britain and the United States, whose 



The 

commerce 

destroyers, 



Mistaken 
policy of 
England. 



The Czar 
intervenes. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 483. 



3IO 



War atid Feace 



[§246 



Negotiations 
for peace, 
1814. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 484-487. 



Treaty of 
Ghent, 1814. 
Schouler's 
United 
Slates, II, 
477-485- 



conflict could not fail to weaken the opposition of the 
former to Napoleon. Madison grasped at the proffered 
good offices of Russia, and appointed commissioners to 
represent the United States ; but Great Britain would not 
accept this mediation. The British government could not 
afford to appear unmindful of the wishes of the Czar, its 
most powerful ally against Napoleon, and announced its 
willingness to negotiate directly with the United States; 
but it was not sincere in its desire for peace, and the 
commissioners did not come together until the summer of 
1814. The Americans were five in number; among them 

v/7^ ^P were Albert Gallatin, John 

^C^y.^'^'^^^^^,ii.,.^i^i^±:Kz> Quincy Adams, son of John 
/^ Adams, and Henry Clay. To 

the absence of Clay from Congress has been attributed 
much of the extraordinary imbeciHty of that body during 
this period. 

It is likely that the British government chose this moment 
to begin negotiations in the expectation that the successes 
of her armies in 1814 would induce the Americans to cede 
to Great Britain a strip of territory south of the Great Lakes. 
Brown's energetic defense of the posts on those lakes, and 
the collapse of the invasion by way of Lake Champlain, 
put an abrupt ending to these hopes, and the British negotia- 
tors were ordered to conclude the treaty as soon as possible. 
The treaty was signed at Ghent on December 24, 1814, 
before the fate of Pakenham's expedition was known, and 
even before the conflict which usually goes by the name of 
the battle of New Orleans had taken place. 

246. The Treaty of Ghent, 1814. — The treaty provided 
for a restoration of conquests by both parties, and for the 
appointment of commissions to arrange the outstanding 
boundary disputes between the two powers and to settle 
some other matters of difference. The important issues 
which led up to the war were not even mentioned in the 
treaty of peace. The Orders in Council had been with- 
drawn before the conflict began, and the rights of neutrals 



i8i4] The Hartford Convention 311 

had ceased to be an issue of vital moment since the fall of 
Napoleon. The successes of the American cruisers had 
contributed materially toward the settlement of the ques- 
tions of impressment, the right of search, and blockades ; 
they never again became serious in the sense that they 
were before 181 2. The British commissioners at Ghent 
had contended that the fishery privileges accorded to the 
citizens of the United States in the treaty of 1783 had ter- 
minated the moment war had broken out between the two 
nations. The Americans declared, on the contrary, that 
the articles in that treaty relating to the fisheries, having 
once gone into operation, were not affected by a subse- 
quent war, any more than were the provisions relating to 
boundaries. On the other hand, they argued that the 
clause in the earlier treaty, granting the free use of the 
Mississippi to British subjects (§ 164), had ceased to 
operate the moment war began. As no agreement could 
be reached on these points, further consideration of them 
was deferred until a more convenient opportunity. The 
news of the conclusion of peace and of Jackson's victory 
at New Orleans reached Washington at almost the same 
moment. The RepubUcan party at once regained its former 
place in the people's esteem. To this consummation also 
the Federalists strongly contributed by a most inopportune 
display of hostility to the administration and to its policy. 

247. The Hartford Convention, 1814, 1815. — Six days Discontent 
before Jackson repelled Pakenham's last assault at New '" ^^"^ 
Orleans, the Hartford Convention adjourned. To under- 1812-14.' 
stand this movement, we must examine at some length the 
course pursued by Massachusetts during the war. In the 
first place, it must be understood that New England had 
borne its full share in the conflict, notwithstanding the 
great unpopularity of the war in that section and the con- 
test over the militia. To make this fact clear, it is 
only necessary to compare the parts borne by Virginia 
and by Massachusetts. The latter contained, according to 
the census of 18 10, about seven hundred thousand inhabit- 



312 War and Peace [§247 

ants ; Virginia is credited in the same census with nine 
hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants, of whom five 
hundred and fifty thousand were negro slaves. In accord 
ance with the federal ratio (§ 182), Virginia sent to Con- 
gress twenty-three members, Massachusetts twenty. The 
latter state furnished four times as much money for the 
support of the conflict as Virginia, and contributed more 
men to the armies of the United States during the war — 
apart from sailors on national vessels and in privateers — 
than did the states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South 
Carolina combined. On the other hand, the government 
withdrew its garrisons from the Massachusetts seaboard forts 
and harassed what was left of her commerce with an em- 
bargo. 
Opposition The leading men of New England had no confidence what- 

to the ad- g^^j. ^^ ^j^^ Southern and Western politicians who guided 

ministration, . '■ ° . 

1813-14. the policy of the government. They felt keenly the slights 

put upon New England, and resented the acts of the admin- 
istration, many of which were of doubtful constitutionality, 
to say the least. They had recourse to the precedents of 
pre-revolutionary times, and followed in the footsteps of 
the leaders of the Republican party in 1798-99. The 
legislatures of Connecticut and Massachusetts passed laws 
directly in conflict with the act of Congress provid- 
ing for the enlistment of minors, and subjected to fine 
and imprisonment those engaged in carrying the law into 
practice. On February 18, 1813, a committee of the 
Massachusetts legislature reported that " the sovereignty 
reserved to the states [in the Constitution] was reserved to 
protect the citizens from acts of violence by the United 
States. . . . We spurn the idea that the sovereign state of 
Massachusetts is reduced to a mere municipal corporation. 
. . . When the national compact is violated, and the 
citizens of the state are oppressed by cruel and unauthor- 
ized law, this legislature is bound to interpose its power 
and wrest from the oppressor its victim." The campaign 
of 1814 brought no relief to New England; the British, 



i8i5] 



The Hartford Convention 



313 



who in the earlier years of the war had forborne to attack 
that section, now waged active hostiHties on the New Eng- 
land coast. They seized the eastern towns in Maine, 
levied contributions on many seaboard places, and bom- 
barded Stonington in Connecticut. October of that year 
found the New Englanders in a sterner frame of mind than 
before. The legislature of Massachusetts suggested that a 
conference of delegates of the New England states should 
be summoned, to propose such measures as were " not 
repugnant to their obligations as members of the Union." 
The conference, or convention, as it was ordinarily termed, 
was held at Hartford (December, 1814, to January, 1815). 
It adopted resolutions suggesting that the New Englanders 
should be permitted to defend themselves and should 
therefore retain a reasonable portion of the federal taxes 
assessed upon tliem. It also suggested certain amend- 
ments to the Constitution, and laid down the constitutional 
doctrines applicable to the matter in language which must 
have sounded most unpleasantly familiar to Jefferson and 
Madison : 

" In cases of deliberate, dangerous, and palpable infrac- 
tions of the Constitution, affecting the sovereignty of a state 
and liberties of the people ; it is not only the right but the 
duty of such a state to interpose its authority for their pro- 
tection. . . . When emergencies occur which are . . . 
beyond the reach of the judicial tribunals, . . . states 
which have no common umpire must be their own judges 
and execute their own decisions " (compare § 209). 

It was often the fate of the Federalist party to propose 
action either too early or too late. The commissioners 
sent to Washington to arrange for a reasonable division of 
the proceeds of the federal taxes reached the capital to find 
peace declared. They hastened home amid the jeerings 
of the Republican press. 

248. Results of the War. — The war cost the American 
people the lives of thirty thousand men, and as many more 
were wholly or partly incapacitated from leading happy, 



The 

Hartford 

Convention, 

1814-15- 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 
469-476; 
Mac- 
Donald's. 
Documentary 
Source Book, 
No. 70. 



Cost of the 
war. 



314 



War and Peace 



[§ 249 



Results of 
the war. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, II, 

492. 501 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, I, 
219. 



New 

economic 

conditions. 



vigorous lives. The national debt rose by leaps and 
bounds, until in 18 16 it amounted to one hundred and 
twenty-seven million dollars ; about one hundred millions 
of this sum was an absolute increase of the debt. The 
actual money cost of the war was much greater, and was 
probably not less than two hundred million dollars. On 
the other side of the account, there was absolutely nothing 
material to show for this great expenditure of human Hfe, 
this amount of human suffering, and this mass of treasure. 

Indirectly and unconsciously there was a gain not to be 
measured in human lives or in dollars : the American people 
ceased to be provincial and began to appreciate its oneness, 
it began to feel and to act as a nation. Before this time 
American politics had been dominated by European poli- 
tics, — there had been British parties and parties favoring 
France. The War of 181 2, and the economic changes 
consequent on the restoration of peace in Europe, com- 
pletely changed these conditions. Northern capitalists 
competing with the manufacturers of Britain forgot their 
former friendships ; on the other hand, the cotton planters 
of the South found in the British manufacturers their best 
customers ; they, too, became forgetful of their former 
hatred of all things British. Furthermore, the pressure of 
the conflict compelled the federal government to adopt 
measures which even Hamilton would have feared to sug- 
gest, while the Federalists, soon to disappear as a party, 
became the champions of strict construction. In this way 
democracy and nationalism grew together. The War of 
181 2 has been often and truly called the Second War of 
Independence, which should be understood to mean not 
merely independence of other nations, but of the conditions 
of colonial life. 

249. Altered Industrial Conditions, 1816. — On the return 
of peace it at once became evident that new economic forces 
had come into existence. These new factors in national 
progress were to exert a powerful influence on the course 
of politics and to determine the positions to be assumed 



i8i6] Early Tariff Legislation 315 

by political leaders. It will be well to consider this subject 
with some care. 

During the period of commercial restriction and of war, 
the Northern capitalists had been obliged to find new means 
of employment for their idle funds, which could no longer be 
profitably invested in the shipping interests. They turned 
their attention to manufacturing enterprises and established 
the textile industries of the North. x'\s soon as peace was 
concluded, British manufacturers sought to regain their 
former profitable markets in the United States. They sent 
immense quantities of goods to the American ports, and the 
Northern manufacturers saw the markets for their cottons, 
woolens, and iron rapidly slipping from them. They could 
not return to the shipowning industry to advantage, as the 
general peace which now prevailed brought their vessels 
into competition with those of all the maritime nations of 
Europe. They appealed to Congress for aid in the shape 
of a protective tariff, which would preserve the home market 
to them. One result of this appeal was the Tariff Act of 
1816. A more important outcome of this change in the 
economic development of the country was the extinction 
of the Federalist party. It was now powerless to aid the 
Northern mill owners in securing the requisite legislation; 
they turned for aid to the Republicans, and the Federalist 
party, abandoned in the house of its friends, disappeared 
as a political organization. 

250. Early Tariff Legislation, 1789-1815. — The act for Protection, 
raising revenue, passed in 1 789, had for one object " the 1789-1815. 
protection of manufactures," but the rates levied in that 
act were too low to give an effective impulse to young 
industries. It should also be said that the country was not 
then prepared for the establishment of manufacturing enter- 
prises on an extended scale. Subsequent acts had increased 
the rates of taxation on imports, and had thereby given 
added protection. This was especially true of a law passed 
in 181 2 for doubling all the duties; but these later acts 
were designed to provide revenue — whatever protection 



3i6 



War and Peace 



[§ 251 



Growth of 
manufac- 
turing 
industries, 
1800-15. 



Calhoun and 
Webster on 
protection. 



they afforded was incidental. The embargo and non-inter- 
course laws had also operated to give protection, and so 
had the high rates of freight which the commercial policy 
of Great Britain and France made inevitable. The War of 
1812 had added to the encouragement afforded by these 
earlier restrictions on commerce, and in 181 5 the textile 
industries of the North may be considered to have been 
estabhshed. 

251. Growth of Textile Industries, 1800-1815.— The 
development of the manufacture of cotton was extraordi- 
nary. In 1803 there were four cotton factories in the 
country ; five years later there were fifteen mills, with eight 
thousand spindles. By 18 ti the nuntiber of spindles had 
increased tenfold, to eighty thousand, and in 1815 there 
were five hundred thousand spindles in operation. The 
home consumption of cotton tells the same story of rapid 
growth: in 1800 American manufacturers used five hun- 
dred bales ; in 181 5 they consumed ninety thousand bales. 
The question which came before Congress in 181 6 was 
whether this rapidly growing industry should be crushed by 
foreign competition or should be permitted to live. If the 
latter course commended itself to Congress, the best way 
to secure it was to lay so heavy a duty on foreign cotton 
cloth that its importation would be unprofitable. 

The case was somewhat the sarne as to the woolen and 
iron industries, although the story of their rise is not so 
striking as that just related of the cotton manufacture. 

252. Tariff Act of 1816. — Congress was still controlled 
by the poUticians who had urged on the declaration of war 
in 181 2. At this period in his career Calhoun was in favor 
of a strong nationalizing policy. "Let us make great per- 
manent roads . . . for . . . defense and connecting more 
closely the interests of various sections of this great coun- 
try," he said in 1816, and he strongly advocated protection 
" to encourage . . . domestic industry." Even Jefferson 
declared that the manufacturer and the agriculturist must 
gtand side by side. On the other hand, Webster, represent- 



iSiy] 



Monroe's Administrations 



317 



1816. 



Monroe 
elected 
President, 
1816. 



ing the shipping interests of Boston, strongly opposed pro- 
tection, and John Randolph sounded an unheeded note of 
warning when he declared that the proposed tariff would 
bear heavily "upon poor men and slaveholders." 

The act as it was passed (April 27, 1816) imposed a duty Tariff Act of 
of about twenty per cent on all cotton and woolen goods 
imported from abroad, and specific duties on salt and iron 
imported. In addition, "the minimum principle" was 
adopted. This provided that no duty on cotton and 
woolen goods should be less than six and one quarter 
cents per yard. As this rate was far more than twenty-five 
per cent of the price of coarse fabrics which were worn 
by slaves in the South, the tariff was unfavorable to the in- 
terests of Southern slaveholders. 

253. Monroe's Administrations, 1817-1825. — In 1816 a 
presidential election was held. Following the example set 
by Washington and Jefferson, Madison declined to be a 
candidate for a third term, and James Monroe of Virginia 
was elected President. In earlier life Monroe had been 
an advanced democrat, but his ardor had cooled. He had 
forgotten many of Jefferson's early teachings, and had 
become almost, if not quite, as much in favor of building 
up a strong central government as any Federalist had been. 
As a diplomatist, Monroe had served long abroad, but 
had not gained great success; in 1806 he had put his 
name to a treaty with Great Britain which Jefferson would 
not even submit to the Senate (§ 232). Monroe had 
then retired into private life, from which he had come 
at Madison's request to take the position of Secretary of 
State. During the War of 1812, he had shown unexpected 
strength ; he had resisted unwise popular demands and 
had risen above the position of the ordinary party chief. 
He was a man eminently fitted to lead the nation in 
the peaceful times which were now approaching. Party 
spirit declined, and Monroe was re-elected President 
in 1820 with only one vote lacking, that withheld by 
a New Hampshire elector who was determined — so the 



3i8 



War and Peace 



[§ 254 



Policy of 
nationaliza- 
tion. 



Marshall's 
decisions. 



Story goes — that Washington should be the only man 
unanimously elected to the presidency. 

254. The Policy of Nationalization. — Monroe fell in 
with the popular demand for nationalization, for protec- 
tion, and for public improvements. The Tariff Act of 181 6 
had been passed with the aid of votes from all sections of 
the country. The new leaders of the Republican party 

adopted the preva- 
' ^ lent ideas of nation- 

alization, and the 
Supreme Court, in a 
series of remarkable 
decisions, prepared 
the way for the carry- 
ing out of the new 
policy. One of 
these decisions was 
given by Chief Jus- 
tice John Marshall, 
in the case of Mc- 
Culloch zjs. Mary- 
land. The case arose 
out of the attempt of 

^ the state of Maryland 

to tax the Second 
United States Bank, 
which was chartered in 18 16. In delivering the decision of 
the court, the Chief Justice said in substance : A national 
bank is an appropriate means to carry out some of the 
implied powers 
conferred on the 
national govern- 
ment by the Con- 
stitution. If the end is within the scope of the Constitution, 
all means which are plainly adapted to that end, and which 
are consistent with the spirit of the organic law, are consti- 
tutional. A similar course of reasoning would have upheld 




James Monroe 




i8i6] The Policy of Nationalization 319 

the constitutionality of the tariff and perhaps internal im- 
provements as well. In other decisions the Supreme Court 
greatly restricted the functions of the states, as in the case 
of Fletcher vs. Peck and in the Dartmouth College case, 
where the clause of the Constitution (Art. i, § 10) forbidding 
the states to pass any law impairing the obligation of con- 
tracts was held to mean that the state of Georgia could not 
revoke grants of land fraudulently obtained, and that the 
state of New Hampshire could not modify a charter granted 
to a corporation before the Revolution. In these and other 
decisions, the power of the states was greatly diminished, 
and that of the United States in the same measure increased. 

This great increase of authority to the national govern- Settlement oi 
ment and the complete change of attitude of the dominant *'^^ West. 
party on questions of interpretation of the Constitution, was 
due in part to the rapid settlement of the West. Six states 
were admitted to the Union between 18 16 and 182 1, of 
which five were west of the Alleghanies, and one of them, 
Missouri, west of the Mississippi. The Westerners desired 
better means of transport, and looked to the general govern- 
ment to construct roads and canals and to improve rivers 
and harbors ; they desired, too, to have some of their prod- 
ucts protected, as hemp and wool. One of Madison's last 
acts as President had been to veto a bill devoting fifteen 
hundred thousand dollars, which the Second United States 
Bank paid for its charter, to the construction of roads and 
canals and the improvement of rivers. Madison, like Jeffer- 
son, favored internal improvements ; but, like Jefferson, he 
believed them to be beyond the powers conferred on the gen- 
eral government by the Constitution; an amendment would 
be necessary to make such acts legal. Monroe took a similar 
view, and in 1822 vetoed a bill for the repair of the Cumber- 
land road, which had been built out of the proceeds of the 
pubhc lands. In the next year (1823) the first step was taken 
in the appropriation of money by Congress for the improve- 
ment of harbors, but the matter did not assume important 
proportions until after the close of Monroe's second term. 



320 



War and Peace 



[§2SS 



Relations 
with Great 
Britain, 
1815-18. 



Commercial 
convention, 
1815. 



Treaty of 
1818. 
Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 489. 



255. Relations with Great Britain, 1815-1818. — The 

Treaty of Ghent had ended the war with Great Britain, 
but it had left many important questions to be decided by 
future negotiations. These were at once begun. The 
British government, although not in precisely a concilia- 
tory frame of mind, was more reasonable than it had ever 
been before. In 18 15 it consented to a commercial con- 
vention which opened a portion of the British West India 
trade to American vessels ; the convention also contained 
an important provision designed to secure the abolition of 
discriminating duties and charges in either country against 
the vessels and goods of the other. This arrangement was 
limited to four years, but was extended for ten years longer 
in 18 18. In the latter year an important treaty was nego- 
tiated in regard to the fisheries and the northern boundary 
of the United States. With regard to the fisheries, the 
United States consented to give up some of its rights under 
the treaty of 1783 ; Great Britain, on her part, recognized 
the remainder as being permanent in character ; she also 
gave up her rights to the navigation of the Mississippi. 
The northern boundary was to follow the forty-ninth par- 
allel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky or Stony 
Mountains, as they were then termed. The United States 
in this way abandoned a small portion of Louisiana and 
acquired a valuable bit of territory in the basin of the Red 
River of the North. (Map No. IV.) As to Oregon, or 
the region lying between the Rocky Mountains and the 
Pacific, north of the Spanish possessions in California, no 
agreement as to division could be reached. It was arranged, 
therefore, that both Great Britain and the United States 
should occupy it jointly for ten years. 

An attempt was also made to come to some conclusion 
in regard to the suppression of the z\frican slave trade ; but 
agreement was impossible, owing to the divergent ideas of 
the two governments as to the " right of search," since 
the United States refused to permit British men-of-war to 
stop and search vessels flying the American flag. 



iSig] 



The Florida Treaty 



321 



256. Relations with Spain, 1810-1819. — It will be remem- 
bered that the desire of the United States to acquire West 
Florida and New Orleans had brought about the Louisiana 
Purchase, which Spain had steadily maintained did not 
include West Florida (§ 228). In 18 10 and 181 2 the 
United States had seized a portion of that province, but had 
left the remainder and East Florida in the hands of Spain. 
This matter gave rise to constant irritation ; Spain refused 
to recognize the title of the United States to West Florida or 
to sell East Florida. The American government, on its part, 
held fast to the territory it had seized and endeavored to 
buy the eastern province. East Florida was of slight value 
to Spain, and the Spanish government was so beset with 
difficulties in Europe and America (§ 258) that it could 
not properly govern any of its American possessions. East 
Florida was used by all sorts of fugitives from the United 
States, — white, black, and red. It was also a convenient 
base for the organization of smuggling expeditions into the 
United States. The situation was especially grave as to 
the Indians, for whenever those in Georgia and Alabama 
rebelled, they fled across the frontier to Florida and re- 
ceived shelter and assistance from its inhabitants. In 1818 
General Jackson pursued a body of marauding Seminoles 
across the boundary. Finding that they were aided by the 
Spanish settlers at St. Marks and Pensacola, he seized those 
two places. While in Florida he also executed two British 
subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who appeared to be 
intriguing with the natives against the United States. 

Jackson's raid aroused discussion in the cabinet : John 
Quincy Adams, Monroe's Secretary of State, defended it; 
all the other members of the administration disapproved it ; 
one of them, John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, proposed 
that Jackson should be tried by a court-martial for insub- 
ordination, but nothing was done. 

257. The Florida Treaty, 1819. — Negotiations had been 
in progress for some time for the purchase of East Florida, 
or, as we may now call it, Florida, and the settlement of 

Y 



Relations 

with Spain, 

1810-19. 

Winsor's 

America, 

VII, 497. 

543- 



Jackson 

invades 

Florida, 

1818. 

Schouler's 

Uniied 

States, III, 

57-93- 



Purchase of 
Florida, 1819 



322 



War and Peace 



[§ 257 



Winsor's 
America, 
VII, 499. 



The line of 
1819. 



all existing disputes with Spain. The negotiations were 
brought to a conclusion by a treaty which was signed at 
Washington (1819) and was ratified in 1821. By this 
instrument, Spain ceded Florida to the United States and 
abandoned all claim to lands lying east and north of the 
following line : beginning at the mouth of the Sabine River, 
this line followed that stream to the 3 2d degree of latitude, 




.SPAIN BY TREATY 



The United States, 1819 

thence due north to the Red River, and along that river to the 
one hundredth meridian ; from that point the line ran due 
north to the Arkansas, and followed the southern bank of that 
stream to its source, thence northward or southward, as the 
case might be, to the forty-second parallel and along that 
line to the Pacific Ocean. The United States abandoned 
its claim to lands south and west of this line and agreed to 
pay five million dollars to American citizens who had claims 
against Spain for property which had been wrongfully seized. 
The effect of this settl^naent was that the United States 



1819] The Spanish- American Colonies 323 

acquired Florida and gave up Texas. The letters which 
were written by John Quincy Adams during his long nego- 
tiation are of great importance in diplomatic history. Sin- 
gularly enough, it was reserved for his grandson, Henry 
Adams, to prove conclusively that the United States had a 
perfect title to Texas. 

The Florida treaty was signed on- February 22, 181 9, and Ratification 
was ratified by the Senate without opposition or delay, of the treaty, 
Spain, however, postponed ratification for nearly two years. 
At last, in 1821, the agreement was completed. Jackson 
was appointed governor of the new territory of Florida, 
which was admitted to the Union as a state in 1845. 
Those portions of the old province of West Florida which 
were seized in 1810 and 181 2 were added to the states of 
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, giving the two latter 
access to the Gulf of Mexico. 

258. The Spanish-American Colonies, 1808-1822. — The Rebellionsin 
Spanish-American colonies in South and Central America ^^^ Spanish 
and Mexico had originally thrown off their allegiance to 1808-22.' 
the Spanish monarch when Napoleon thrust his brother on Schouier's 
the Spanish throne (1808), but on the restoration of the old ^J^fff^^^ 
monarchy they had returned to their obedience to the 25-36.' 
sovereign of Spain. In the interval they had enjoyed 
freedom of trade with other nations. Spain again imposed 
the old colonial system ; her colonists again rebelled (1816), 
and the government of the mother land was too weak to 
compel submission. The ten years following the final down- 
fall of Napoleon in 181 5 were a period of great unrest 
among the nations of Europe. In 1820 the Spaniards 
themselves rebelled against their restored monarch. Under 
these circumstances the Spanish colonists were able to 
maintain their independence, and by 1822 revolutionary 
governments had been established in every Spanish colony 
on the American continents. 

The elements of revolutionary unrest in Europe had 
caused the European monarchs to form a " concert " termed 
the " Holy Alliance," to do " each other reciprocal serv- 



324 



War and Peace 



[§ 259 



The Holy 

Alliance. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

277. 



Canning's 

proposition. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

284. 



Independ- 
ence of the 
Spanish 
colonies 
recognized, 
1822. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
255- 



Russians on 
the north- 
west coast. 



ices," 'or, in plain language, to maintain one another's 
rights and privileges. Great Britain was not a member of 
this league, but many leading Englishmen undoubtedly 
sympathized with the reactionary tendencies of its framers. 
In 1823 France, in the name of the "Holy Alliance," 
restored the Spanish king to his throne. He eagerly be- 
sought his fellow-monarchs to complete their work by 
restoring his authority in the rebellious American colo- 
nies. The apprehension that something of the kind might 
be attempted, aroused the commercial animosities of Eng- 
lish merchants, who had established a profitable trade 
with the revolted states and had no wish to see the Spanish- 
American ports again closed to British vessels. Putting 
aside for the moment his overbearing manner. Canning, 
the British foreign minister, courteously addressed the 
American envoy at London, Mr. Richard Rush, and pro- 
posed that Great Britain and the United States should make 
a concurrent declaration against the course which the Holy 
AUiance seemed about to take (1823). 

The insurrectionary movements in the Spanish-American 
colonies had awakened the pity of the citizens of the 
United States. They sympathized with republican move- 
ments in general, they were interested in the trade of 
Spanish America, and they especially disliked the idea of 
European nations interfering in American affairs. Monroe 
and Adams, both experienced diplomatists, carefully ob- 
served the restrictions imposed on neutrals by international 
practice. By 1822, however, they thought that the time 
had come to recognize the independence of the colonies. 
This was accomplished by the appropriation of money to 
defray the expenses of diplomatic missions to "the inde- 
pendent nations on the American continent." 

259. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823. — Meantime, another 
cause for anxiety had arisen. Russia had obtained a foot- 
hold on the northwestern coast of America, and seemed 
determined to reserve the trade of that region to herself. 
In 1 82 1 the Czar issued a decree, or t/kase, forbidding all 



1823] 



The Monroe Doctrine 



325 



foreigners to approach within one hundred miles of the 
American coasts north of the fifty-first parallel. Russian 
fur traders were constantly appearing farther south, and it 
was feared that Russia would extend her influence down 
the coast to Oregon, and even to California. The Czar 
was also the leading spirit of the Holy AUiance. Bearing 
in mind all the circumstances of the case, the situation 
might well seem desperate ; the United States government 
might have been pardoned had it grasped at Canning's 
proffered friendship, but the offer was politely declined, 
largely through the wise insistence of John Quincy Adams. 
He believed that joint action with Great Britain would 
probably lead to a new partition of America between the 
principal states of Europe. If this should happen, France 
might again become an American power, Russia might gain 
Oregon and perhaps California, and Great Britain might 
acquire increased strength. Monroe finally accepted this 
view of the problem and stated the policy of the govern- 
ment in his Seventh Annual Message to Congress (Decem- 
ber, 1823). 

Referring to the rights and interests of the United States 
and Russia on the northwest coast, the President said : " The 
occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle 
. . . that the American continents, by the free and inde- 
pendent condition which they have assumed and maintain, 
are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future 
colonization by any European power." Turning to the 
question of European intervention to settle the relations 
between Spain and her former, colonies, Monroe stated 
that : "... The citizens of the United States cherish 
sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and 
happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. 
In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to 
themselves, we have^ never taken any part, nor does it com-, 
port with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights 
are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or 
make preparation for our defense. With the movements 



Enunciation 
of the 
Monroe 
Doctrine, 
1823. 
Winsors 
America, 
VII, 502; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
286, 293 ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 4. 



326 



War and Peace 



[§ 259 



Authorship 
of the 
message. 



in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately 
connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all 
enlightened and impartial observers. The political system 
of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect 
from that of America. This difference proceeds from that 
which exists in their respective governments. And to the 
defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of 
so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of 
their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have 
enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. 
We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable rela- 
tions existing between the United States and those powers, 
to declare that we should consider any attempt on their 
part to extend their system to any portion of this hemi- 
sphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the 
existing colonies or dependencies of any European power 
we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with 
the governments who have declared their independence, 
and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on 
great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, 
we could not view any interposition for the purpose of 
oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their 
destiny, by any European power, in any other light than 
as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the 
United States." 

These memorable sentences were written by John Quincy 
Adams, but the responsibility for the announcement of the 
policy was Monroe's, and the message was rightly coupled 
with his name. In truth, the principles set forth in this 
famous document originated neither with Adams nor with 
Monroe ; their genesis may be traced back to Washington's 
Neutrality Proclamation and to Jefferson's famous phrase 
of " entangling alliances with none " (§ 223). The " Mon- 
roe Doctrine " was the established policy of the United 
States long before 1823, and has been cherished and ex- 
tended by later statesmen. It would be better now to drop 
the name of Monroe altogether and to call this policy, which 



1824] Treaty with Russia 327 

is usually associated with his name, the American Policy. 
As circumstances change, the great principles underlying 
it have been, and must be, applied to new conditions ; but 
the use of Monroe's name seems to confine them to those 
problems only which confronted ^ i] . 

the government in 1823. J/, «2, - c^'rcLAMv^ 

Although Canning's suggestion of concurrent action was 
not received with favor by the United States, the British 
authorities acted in harmony with the administration at 
Washington. Mr. Canning caused the French government 
to be informed that the use of force by the Holy Alliance 
would at once lead to Britain's recognition of the inde- 
pendence of the Spanish colonies in America. The projects 
of the Holy Alliance as to the New World fell dead. At 
nearly the same time satisfactory arrangments were made 
as to the limits of Russia's dominion on the northwestern 
coast. 

260. The Russian Treaty of 1824. — This treaty was ne- Treaty with 

gotiated during Monroe's administration. It is called the Russia, 1824, 

rii,- -r-i-i T Schoulers 

Treaty of 1824, although it was not ratified until January united 

of the next year (1825). It declared the fisheries and states, 
navigation of the Pacific open to both parties and fixed the ' ^^°' 
parallel of 54° 40' as the dividing line between the " spheres 
of influence " of the .two contracting parties, the Americans 
to make no settlements north of that line nor the Russians 
south of it. 

With the arrangement of this matter, the old foreign 
policy of the United States may be said to have terminated. 
Questions of internal policy had already assumed the fore- 
most position, and the struggles of political parties turned 
more and more on the contest over the extension of the 
slave system to new territory, and to the perpetuation of 
the protective tariff. 

261. Extension of Slave Territory. — The Ordinance of slave and 
1787, prohibiting slavery north of the Ohio River (§ 173) freejerritory, 
and the acts of Congress admitting free states north of that 

river and slave states south of it (§ 219), had settled the 



328 



War and Peace 



[§261 



Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
134-146. 



Proposal to 
admit 

Missouri as 
a slave state. 
Johnston's 
Orations, II, 



Proposals to 

restrict slave 

extension. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

147-155 ; 

Mac- 
Donald's 
Documents, 
Nos. 35-41. 



question of free and slave soil east of the Mississippi by 
making the Ohio from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi the 
dividing line. The question of slavery west of that great 
stream had not been determined. Was the vast region 
between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains to be 
devoted to freedom or to bondage, or to be divided between 
them, as the original territory of the United States had 
been? 

In 181 2 Congress had admitted the slave state of Louisi- 
ana to the Union. For six years nothing more was heard 
of the question, until March, 18 18, when Missouri applied 
to Congress for admission to the Union ; but no action was 
taken at that session. In the following December (1818) 
a bill was introduced organizing the southern portion of the 
old Missouri Territory as a new territory under the name 
of Arkansas. The boundary line between the proposed 
state and territory was given in the bill as the parallel of 
36° 30' north latitude ; this would be substantially a pro- 
longation of the Ohio River line. In February, 18 19, the 
consideration of these bills began in earnest, and at once 
the question of the extension of slave territory became of 
the greatest importance. James W. Tallmadge, a represent- 
ative from New York, moved to amend the Missouri bill 
to the effect "that the further introduction of slavery or 
involuntary servitude be prohibited and that all children 
of slaves born within the said state after the admission 
thereof into the Union shall be free." The proposed state 
was north of the prolongation of the Ohio dividing line, 
and directly west of the free state of Illinois ; it seemed to 
the Northerners only right that it should be free soil, and 
they voted for Tallmadge's amendment. It was carried, 
the bill was passed by the House, and was sent up to the 
Senate. The Arkansas bill was then taken up, and John 
W. Taylor, another representative from New York, moved 
the substance of Tallmadge's proposition as an amendment 
to that bill ; but the motion was defeated by the casting 
vote of Henry Clay, who was once more Speaker of the 



lS20] 



The Missouri Compromises 



329 



House of Representatives. McLane of Delaware then pro- 
posed that a Ymt should be fixed west of the Mississippi 
" north of which slavery should not be tolerated," and 
Taylor, acting on this suggestion, moved that slavery should 
be prohibited north of 36° 30' north latitude ; but he sub- 
sequently withdrew his amendment, and the Arkansas bill 
passed in its original form. The Senate accepted the 
Arkansas bill, refused the Tallmadge amendment to the 
Missouri bill, and Congress adjourned without coming to 
a decision. 

This question of the expansion of slave territory, which 
had suddenly come before Congress, aroused an amount 
of interest and excitement such as no other measure 
had awakened for years. John Adams, in his retired home 
at far-off Quincy, Massachusetts, wrote that he hoped no 
harm would come of it ; but Jefferson, at his mansion of 
Monticello, Virginia, nearer the scene of conflict, was not at 
all hopeful, and declared that during the Revolutionary War 
there had not been such a serious division of opinion in the 
country. 

262. The Missouri Compromises, 1820, 1821. — A new 
Congress assembled in December, 181 9, and the slavery 
question at once became the most important matter of the 
session. Meantime, the Province of Maine had asked to 
be admitted to the Union with the consent of Massachu- 
setts, with which Maine had been united since 1676 (§ 96). 
The House of Representatives promptly passed a bill 
for its admission ; but when the measure came before 
the Senate, a clause providing for the admission of Mis- 
souri was tacked to it by way of amendment (January, 
1820). In the course of the discussion, the Senate refused 
to adopt an amendment prohibiting slavery in Missouri, 
but accepted one proposed by Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois, 
in the following language : " That in all that territory ceded 
by France to the United States under the name of Louisi- 
ana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes 
north latitude, not included within the limits of the state 



Seriousness 
of the crisis. 



The 

Compromise 
of 1820. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 

155-165 ; 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, 
1,30-41- 



330 



War and Peace 



I§ 262 



Discussion 

in the 

cabinet. 

Schouler's 

Utiited 

States, III, 

166-171. 



More 

compromise, 

1821. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

178-186. 



contemplated by this act, slavery . . . shall be and is hereby 
forever prohibited." The bill in this form finally passed 
the Senate by the votes of the senators from the Southern 
states and Illinois. The proposal in plain language was to 
balance the admission of the free state of Maine by the 
admission of the slave state of Missouri, and to forbid 
slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north 
of Arkansas. The form in which the compromise was 
effected aroused a good deal of friction between the two 
houses. Finally, it was passed and received the President's 
approval. 

In the cabinet there was an interesting discussion as to 
the constitutional power of Congress to prescribe condi- 
tions under which states might be admitted into the Union. 
All the members of the cabinet concurred in the opinion 
that Congress had power under the Constitution to prohibit 
slavery in the territories. It should be noted that the 
Southern members agreed in this view, — Wirt of Virginia, 
Crawford of Georgia, and John C. Calhoun of South Caro- 
lina. In point of fact, there were few persons then in 
political life who would have denied that Congress pos- 
sessed full power to impose conditions on the admission 
of new states. 

The bill, as passed, admitted Maine to the Union and 
authorized Missouri to form a constitution and apply to 
Congress for admission. In 1821 the constitution of 
Missouri came before Congress for formal approval. It 
was found to contain a clause forbidding the entrance of 
free blacks into the state. Free blacks were then and for 
a long time thereafter regarded as citizens of the United 
States, and the federal Constitution guaranteed certain 
rights to all citizens. This clause in the Missouri con- 
stitution therefore raised a very serious question. Many 
Northerners would have gladly seized this opportunity to 
overturn the compromise of 1820. In the end, however, 
under the influence of Henry Clay, the matter was again 
compromised. Missouri was admitted under the proposed 



1824] The Tar if of 1824 331 

constitution, with the proviso that no interpretation should 
ever be placed on the clause in question which should in 
any way diminish the rights of citizens of the United States, 
— a proviso which meant absolutely nothing. The Mis- 
souri. Compromise postponed the conflict over the extension 
of slavery for a whole generation. It may be considered 
to have been justifiable, as it gave the free North time to 
develop its strength. On the other hand, it intensified 
the division into sections, which was already so apparent, 
and when the time came for the compromise to be of real 
value to the cause of freedom, it was disregarded and pro- 
nounced unconstitutional (§§ 307,314). 

263. The Tariff of 1824. — The eight years which had Tariff of 
elapsed since the passage of the Tariff Act of 1816, of ^^?^' 
which Calhoun was one of the chief supporters, had wit- United 
nessed a great change in the attitude of the several sections states, in, 
of the country on the question of protection. The South- ^^^-29 • 
erners, who had then not opposed the policy, were now its 
declared enemies. Although they had not suffered much 
actual damage from it, the tariff was clearly of no benefit 
to them, and seemed, on the other hand, to be of great bene- 
fit to two classes, — the agriculturists of the West and the 
manufacturers of the North. The Westerners had favored The 
the Tariff Act of 1816; they now clamored loudly for the argument 

• • 1 rr^i 1 1 -1 1- for a high 

extension of the prmciple. They argued that the buildmg tariff. 
up of thriving manufacturing communities in the East would 
give them markets near at hand for their surplus products, 
and the large revenues which were hkely to result from 
increased duties would enable the government to construct 
new avenues of communication across the Alleghanies, and 
thus render the new markets more accessible. In the 
North, also, there was now much less opposition to a high 
tariff than there had been earlier. The iron masters of 
Pennsylvania were eager for more protection, and the tariff 
had enabled the New England manufacturers to pass suc- 
cessfully through a commercial crisis in 1818-19 and had 
been an incentive to a large increase in the manufacturing 



332 



War and Peace 



[§264 



Arguments 
for and 
against pro- 
tection, 1824. 
Taussig's 
State Papers, 
252-385- 



The " Era 
of Good 
Feeling," 
1821-25. 
Schouler's 
United- 
States, III, 
259-270. 



industries of that section. The most remarkable develop- 
ment in this direction was the founding of the town of 
Lowell, where there was an important water power supplied 
by the Merrimac and Concord rivers. There a large mill 
for spinning and weaving had been erected and opened for 
business in 1823. 

The new tariff was pressed forward on the eve of a presi- 
dential election, when no candidate wished to offend those 
interested in the development of protection, Webster, who 
still represented the commercial as opposed to the manu- 
facturing interests of New England, argued against it in a 
speech which contains one of the best expositions of free- 
trade principles anywhere to be found. The votes of the 
Western, Middle, and Eastern states were too numerous for 
those of the South, and the bill passed. It increased the 
duties on iron, wool, hemp, and, to a less degree, on woolen 
and cotton goods. The general average of duties on pro- 
tected goods, which had been twenty-five per cent in 1816, 
was now increased to thirty-seven per cent. 

264. The Election of J. Q. Adams, 1824. 1825 Mon- 
roe's second administration (1821-25) 1''^^ often been called 
the " Era of Good Feeling," and so it was in the country 
as a whole. The people, busied in preparing for the great 
industrial expansion of Jackson's time, forgot political 
animosities and bent all their energies to building the 
material foundations of future successes. Among the poli- 
ticians, however, it was far from being an "era of good 
feeling"; on the contrary, it was a period of political 
intrigue and ill feeling arnong the leading men seldom 
equaled in the nation's history. It was a time when 
the forces which were to control the destiny of the country 
were taking form, although their shapes were not yet 
sufficiently molded to attract the allegiance or animosity 
of the politicians to such an extent as to make a n?vv divi- 
sion of political parties. Nevertheless, the candidates for 
the succession to Monroe represented, in a manner, these 
new forces. 



1824I The Election of J . Q. Adams 333 

Of Monroe's cabinet three men aspired to succeed their 
chief. The first to come forward was John C. Calhoun of 
South CaroUna, Secretary of War. Calhoun had heretofore 
been identified with nationalizing doctrines, but now was 
beginning to change his mind. The prospect of an undis- 




John Quincy Adams 

puted election to the peaceful seclusion of the vice-presi- 
dency determined him to withdraw from the struggle for 
the first place. William H. Crawford of Georgia, Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, began his preparations to secure the 
nomination as far back as 1820, by procuring the passage 
of an act limiting the tenure of civil officers to four years. 
It was stated that the purpose of this law was to secure 
a better accountability on the part of those who handled 
public moneys ; in reality, it was devised to enable Craw- 
ford to thrust out of the treasury without arousing public 
attention all officials who were not favorable to his presi- 



334 



War and Peace 



[§264 



dential aspirations. John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, 
Secretary of State, also aspired to the presidency. In ad- 
dition, Henry Clay, still Speaker of the House, became a 
candidate, and the friends of General Jackson, now senator 
from Tennessee, put him forward as the representative of the 
people, especially those of the West. Nominating conven- 
tions were not then in fashion for federal offices, and besides 

there were no well- 
defined political 
parties behind the 
several candidates. 
Crawford secured 
the "machine" 
nomination of a 
congressional cau- 
cus, which, how- 
ever, was attended 
by only a small 
portion of the Re- 
publican members 
of Congress. The 
other candidates 
were put forward 
by state legisla- 
tures: Adams by 
those of New Eng- 
land ; Clay by 
those of five states, including h's own state of Kentucky ; 
Jackson by those of Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Adams 
and Clay represented the nationalfzing tendencies of the Re- 
publican party in the North and West ; Crawford stood for 
the reactionary principles which were then beginning to in- 
fluence the South ; and Jackson represented the new democ- 
racy, which was steadily acquiring strength in the West and 
even in the East. The future undoubtedly was with him and 
his friends, but as yet the strength which lay behind him was 
unorganized. As it was, he received ninety-nine electoral 




Election of 1824 




Henry Clay in 1821. After a painting by Charles King 
335 



336 



War and Peace 



[§26s 



The election 
of 1824. 
Stanwood's 
Presidency ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
304-329. 



Cry of 
corruption 
and bargain. 



J. Q. Adams. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

336-343. 

397-403- 



votes — more than any other candidate ; Adams received 
eighty-four votes, Crawford forty-one, and Clay thirty- 
seven. No candidate had obtained a majority, and the 
election went to the House, voting by states, and confined 
in its choice to the three highest on the list (§ 229). 
Clay was therefore out of the contest. His views and 
those of his supporters coincided more nearly with those 
of Adams than with those of either Jackson or Crawford. 
He advised his followers to vote for Adams, and the latter 
was elected. 

The Constitution had expressly given the House the right 
to choose from the three highest on the list. Nevertheless, 
the adherents of Jackson declared that the representatives 
had thwarted the will of the people. In a few days it 
became known that Adams had offered Clay the position 
of Secretary of State, which the latter had accepted, most 
unwisely, as events were to show. The opponents of Adams 
and Clay at once raised the cry that a bargain had been 
made between them. Jackson, who seldom calculated his 
words, and who had probably never forgiven Clay for his 
attempt to bring him to account for his raid of 18 18 
(§ 256), announced that Clay was "the Judas of the West" ; 
and John Randolph of Roanoke, the bitter opponent of the 
nationahzing tendencies of Adams and Clay, asserted in his 
virulent way that it was "a combination between the Puri- 
tan and the blackleg." There is probably not an atom of 
truth in the charge of a bargain between the new President 
and his Secretary of State ; the accusation was repeated, 
however, until even its inventors must have believed in it, 
and it did very great harm to both Adams and Clay. 

265. J. Q. Adams's Administration, 1825-1829. — Adams 
was in every way fitted for his new office. Absolutely fear- 
less, honest, and upright, with a good mind and well trained 
to the administration of affairs, he would no doubt have 
succeeded admirably had he become President eight, or 
even four, years earlier. He represented the sympathies 
and aspirations of the generation which was now fast losing 



1825] 



Foreign Relations 



337 



its hold on the confidence of the people. With the forces 
that were to direct the future destinies of the country, he 
had little in common. His opponents reiterated the 
charges of " corruption and bargain " ; they set on foot 
constant and causeless inquiries into the conduct of pubhc 
officials ; they discovered little wrongdoing, but the cease- 
less round of charges kept alive the suspicions that many 
persons undoubtedly felt as to Adams's honesty and good 
faith. 

On his part, Adams made many mistakes. He proposed 
a vast system of public improvements which alienated the 
support of the Southerners ; he set his name to the worst 
tariff bill that the country has ever had ; and he failed to 
carry on successfully the foreign relations of the nation. 

266. Foreign Relations, 1825-1829. — The most unfortunate 
event in the foreign relations of these years was the closing 
of the British West India ports to American commerce. 
This was not due to any fault of Adams, but to untimely 
legislation by Congress. The administration did what it 
could to settle the matter amicably, but the British govern- 
ment refused to negotiate on the subject at all. In one 
respect, Adams and Clay were fortunate : they concluded 
many commercial treaties ; but their good effect was more 
than offset by the loss of the British West India trade. 

The administration took a warm interest in a Congress 
of all the American Repubhcs, which met at Panama, in 
response to an invitation issued by General Simon Bolivar, 
the South American patriot. Adams was anxious to extend 
the influence of the United States over the other American 
states ; he also desired to secure a general recognition of 
the principles set forth in the Monroe Doctrine. Acting 
on these ideas, he at once accepted Bolivar's invitation. 
When Congress met, however, the opposition seized on 
this as a favorable point of attack. Among the American 
states invited to be present at the Congress was the negro 
republic of Hayti. The slave owners dreaded the example 
of the black republic on their slaves ; they disliked the ide^ 



Relations 
with Great 
Britain. 



The Panama 

Congress. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

358-365- 



338 



War and Peace 



[§ 267 



Georgia, 
the Indians, 
and the 
federal 
government. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
370-381. 



of sitting at a table on equal terms with the free negroes of 
Hayti ; and they were alarmed lest the Panama Congress 
should adopt resolutions hostile to slavery. After consider- 
able delay, Congress voted the funds necessary to enable 
the United States delegates to go to Panama. They did 
not arrive there until after the Congress had adjourned, 
and the whole affair ended in a ridiculous failure. 

267. Adams and Georgia, 1825-1827. — When Georgia had 
ceded her claims to Western lands to the United States 
(1802), the state and the federal governments had agreed that 
the latter should in some way remove the Indians from the 
lands remaining to Georgia. It was found very difficult 
to accomplish this. Georgia became impatient and pro- 
ceeded to take possession of a portion of the lands, in virtue 
of a treaty which probably had no force. The government 
interfered to protect the Indians from unjust spoliation, 
and brought upon itself the anger of Governor Troup of 
Georgia, and of the legislative authorities of that state. 
The governor, echoing the Kentucky and Hartford Conven- 
tion resolutions, stated that " between states equally inde- 
pendent . . . between sovereigns the weaker is equally 
qualified to pass upon its rights " as the stronger. A com- 
mittee of the legislature went further, and reported that the 
time was approaching when the Southern states would be 
obliged to confederate. Adams, on his part, informed 
Congress that he intended " to enforce the laws, and fulfill 
the duties of the nation by all the force committed for that 
purpose to his charge." In Congress, however, the oppo- 
nents of Adams and Clay were in the majority ; they grasped 
the opportunity to humihate the administration, and de- 
clined to support him. Adams was obliged to draw back, 
though at great loss to the national prestige. Georgia had 
successfully defied a weak administration ; it remained to 
be seen whether South Carolina would be able to withstand 
a strong one (§ 282). 

268. The Tariff of Abominations, 1828. —"The Tariff of 
J828/' says Professor Taussig, "was a political job." No 



1828] The Tariff of Abominations 339 

political faction dared to oppose it in view of the approach- The 
ing election. The Southerners were now very unfriendly politicians 

,. , . ,, . - and the 

to its protective policy, but, owing to the necessity 01 pro- ^^^.^^ 
curing the votes of the Jackson men in the protective North Schouler's 
and West, they were obli2;ed to find some expedient by ^"''^^ ,,, 

. . . States, III, 

which, while seeming to favor a high protective tariff, they 420-426. 
might secure its defeat. According to Calhoun, the scheme 
adopted was the invention of Martin Van Buren, senator 
from New York, and chief of a political clique in that 
state known as the Albany Junto. Van Buren had opposed 
Jackson in 1824, but had since warmly attached himself . 
to his cause and had organized his faction. The plan 
of these men was to promote the passage of a bill which 
should contain such high duties on raw materials — most 
of them produced in the West — that the representatives of 
the manufacturing states in the East would not vote for it. 
It was expected that the latter would join with the Southern 
representatives at the last moment, and by their votes 
insure its defeat. The scheme was a " curious commentary," 
to quote again from Professor Taussig, " on the politicians 
who were now corning into power." In the beginning, 
everything worked happily for the conspirators. A com- 
mittee of the House of Representatives, composed mainly 
of Jackson men, reported a bill containing high duties on 
manufactured goods, which the manufacturers desired, and 
high duties on raw materials, which the Westerners wanted. 
The latter duties completely destroyed the effects of the 
former, so far as the manufacturers were concerned. When 
the bill came before the House, the Jackson men refused 
to allow amendments, except one, which slightly bettered 
the case of the manufacturers of coarse woolens. The same 
course was pursued by the Jackson men in the Senate. 
The bill, abominations and all, was better for the manu- 
facturers than no bill. They doubtless expected to be able 
to secure the removal of some of the things which bore 
most harshly upon them, — an expectation which proved to 
be well founded. The Adams men, therefore, much to the 



340 



War and Peace 



[§ 269 



The " abom- 
inations." 



Calhoun's 
Exposition. 
See on this 
general sub- 
ject, Cal- 
houn's letter 
to Hamilton, 
in Stedman 
and Hutch- 
inson, IV, 
478. 



dismay of the plotters, voted for the bill, the President signed 
it, and it became law. A few illustrations will serve to show 
the character of the measure : (i) the duty on hemp, which 
was not produced in the country in any quantity but was 
much used in Northern shipyards, was raised from thirty- 
five to sixty dollars per ton and (2) the duty on coarse wool, 
used in the manufacture of carpets and cheap woolen goods, 
was more than doubled, but no corresponding increase was 
made in the duty which was levied on the manufactured 
article. 

269. Calhoun's Exposition, 1828. — The Southerners 
were greatly angered by the passage of this measure, 
although it is impossible to say how much it injured them, 
if it injured them at all. There was a sense of grievance, 
at all events, and the leaders used it to promote the open 
declaration of states'-rights doctrines. Five Southern legis- 
latures protested against the act, and the legislature of South 
Carolina set forth its ideas in an Expositio7i and Protest, 
drawn up by Calhoun (December, 1828). In this cele- 
brated document Calhoun, reverting to the precedents of 
1799 and 1815 (§§ 209, 247), argued that "the existence 
of the right of judging of their powers, clearly established 
from the sovereignty of the states, as clearly implies a veto 

or control on the action of the general government 

There exists a case [the Tariff of 1828] which would justify 
the interposition of this state, in order to compel the general 
government to abandon an unconstitutional power, or to 
appeal to this high authority [the states] to confer it by 
express grant." He suggested that a convention of the 
state of South Carolina should be held, to decide in what 
manner the Tariff Act " ought to be declared null and void 
within the limits of the state." So threatening, indeed, 
was the outlook at the time, that Webster wrote, " I became 
thoroughly convinced that the plan of a Southern confeder- 
acy had been received with favor by a great many of the 
political men of the South." Nothing more was done at 
the moment, possibly because the Southerners expected to 



i828] 



The Election of 1828 



341 



find in the newly elected President a champion of their 
cause. 

270. Election of 1828. — The Presidential campaign 
which ended in the election of Jackson was fought with a 
bitterness and intemperance without a parallel in the earlier 
campaigns, except perhaps in that of 1800. Jackson was 
supported by men of all 



shades of opinion, from 
free-traders to high- 
protectionists, from 
states'-rights men to 
nationalists. Most of 
them would have been 
entirely unable to give 
any reason for their 
position, except a de- 
sire for change and a 
feehng that, with Jack- 
son's election, there 
would be an end to the 
traditions which up to 
that time had guided 
the government, — an 
expectation in which 
they were abundantly 
justified by the event. 

Many writers regard Jackson's election as the triumph 
of the people in opposition to the moneyed classes. Others 
maintained that it showed " the new West and the frontier 
had taken the whip hand in political management." Still 
other students see in it the victory of misrepresentation, 
slander, appeals to the passions, and political intrigue, and 
contend that a similar success could not be attained now, 
in the days of the rapid spread of intelligence. Certainly 
it was well understood that Jackson was a man " who stood 
by his friends" ; those who worked for him were reasonably 
sure of reward. Adams, on the other hand, had steadily 




Election of 1828 



Campaign 
of 1828. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, U\, 
409-420, 
426-439 ; 
Stanwood's 
Presidency. 



Meaning of 

Jackson's 

election. 



342 



War and Peace 



[§ 270 



The electoral 
vote. 



Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
18=;. 



refused to use the public patronage to further his political 
fortunes ; his re-election would do little to repay those 
who worked for him. Bearing all these things in mind, it 
is remarkable that Adams received as many votes in 1828 
as he had obtained in 1824. All the rest were given to 
Jackson, who received one hundred and seventy-eight elec- 
toral votes to eighty-three for Adams. The practice of 
choosing presidential electors by popular vote had gradu- 
ally been adopted in all the states, save Delaware and South 
Carolina. It is possible, therefore, to estimate the popular 
vote with some approach to accuracy. Jackson's majority, 
taking the states as a whole, was about one hundred and 
forty thousand. It is true, nevertheless, and worthy of 
note, that the change of a {tw thousand votes in Pennsyl- 
vania and New York would have given the electoral votes 
of those states and the election to Adams. Calhoun was 
re-elected Vice-President by a somewhat smaller majority 
than that given to Jackson. 

The victory, such as it was, was undoubtedly a' triumph 
of the new forces of unrest in political and social life. 
Sooner or later it was certain to come, and its coming at 
this time was fortunate. Adams was soon elected to the 
House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation as 
honorable as it has been unique, and one which he never 
could have won in administration. In Adams's place as 
chief magistrate, there appeared one of the most remarkable 
men America has produced, and one who was admirably 
fitted to ride the storm and direct the forces of the new 
democracy. The personal character, honesty, and good 
intentions of Andrew Jackson are unquestionable, however 
wrongful many of his acts may have been, and however 
mean and base were the motives of many politicians who 
fawned upon him and won office and money from his 
misplaced confidence. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 343 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 240-247, 248, 269. The War of 1812 

a. Compare the mode of recruiting soldiers, and the manner of 
raising money, in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. 

d. What do you think of the suggestion of Mr. Adams (§ 244) as 
applied to possible future wars of the United States? 

c. Bring to class a brief digest of the history of Europe 1812-23. 
' Why was the Czar anxious for peace between the United States and 

Great Britain? 

d. Describe effects of the war upon national feeling, political parties, 
industrial history of the United States; upon sentiments of foreign 
nations towards us. Do you think the description, " Second War of 
Independence," well chosen? 

e. Show that the qualities which made Madison great as a states- 
man unfitted him for a war president. Look up life and influence of 
Mrs. Madison. 

§§ 247, 269. The Hartford Convention 

a. Compare the resolutions adopted by the Hartford Convention 
with the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, with the doctrines set 
forth in Calhoun's Exposition, and with the South Carolina resolutions 
of 1832. 

§§ 249-254. Nationalization 

a. Show how the decisions of the Supreme Court, noted in § 254, 
greatly diminished the power of the states and increased that of the 
federal government. 

b. Upon what grounds did Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe believe 
internal improvements to be beyond the powers of the federal 
government? What is the view of the leading political parties 
to-day ? 

§§ 255-260. FoREicN Affairs 

a. Trace the history of the Monroe Doctrine to 1823. In your 
opinion did Cleveland's Venezuela message enunciate any new 
principle? 

b. Place as heading in note-book, " Oregon," and enter under it 
all fitting matter as you proceed. What matter in these sections must 
you enter under it, and why? Precisely what did the word "Oregon" 
mean in 1818? in 1825? 

c. Represerit in colors upon an Outline Map all the territorial 
changes noted in this chapter. 



344 War and Peace 

§§ 261-262. The Missouri Compromises 

a. Represent upon an Outline Map the effect of the several pro- 
posals noted in these sections. 

fi. State carefully the procedure in regard to the admission of Maine 
and of Missouri. 

§§ 263, 265-268. Administration of J. Q. Adams 

(7. Bring to class a brief digest of the career of J. Q. Adams. 

6. In what way did the tariff injure the South? in what way did L 
benefit the North and the West? 

c. Which party had right and justice on its side in the affair men- 
tioned in § 267? 

§§ 264, 270. Elections of 1824 and 1828 

a. Examine the maps in §§ 264 and 270, and determine how far 
the facts disclosed justify the statement that in 1828 "the New West 
and the frontier had taken the whip hand in political management." 

(5. How has it happened that the House has substantially lost the 
freedom of choice contemplated in the Constitution? 

General Questions 

a. The " Great Triumvirate " — Webster, Clay, and Calhoun : bring 
to class a digest of their careers. 

/>. The "Era of Good Feeling": why so called? Contrast it with 
the preceding period, 1789-1812. 

c. What matter in this chapter must be entered in your note-book 
under " Particularism," and what under " Nationalism " ? 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

a. Summarize Monroe's message of 1823. 

d. Summarize Clay's argument for protection, 1824. 

c. Summarize Webster's argument against protection in 1824. 
(/. Tabulate the election returns of 1824 by states. 

e. Tabulate the election returns of 1828. 



CHAPTER X 

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844 

Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American FoHHcs, 109-148; 
Wilson's Division and Reimion, 22-146 ; Schouler's United States, 
III, 507-529, IV, 1-31 ; yidicDonaXd^s /acksonian Democracy. 

Special Accounts. — W. G. Brown's Andrew Jackson ; Bassett's 
Andrew Jackson ; Von Hoist's Calhoun; Lodge's Webster; Schurz's 
Clay ; Morse's J. Q. Adams; Schouler's United States; *Greeley's 
American ConJlict ; Clarke's Anti-Slavery Days; Morse's Lincoln; 
Goodell's Slavery ; Taussig's Tariff History ; Larned's History for 
Ready Reference ; Wilson's Presidents. Larger biographies of the 
leading statesmen, Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets ; Old South Leaflets; Ben- 
ton's Abridgment and Thirty Years' View ; J. Q. Adams's Diary ; 
Williams's Statesman's A/anual ; Johnston's American Orations; 
Stedman and Hutchinson, American Literature. Writings of the 
leading statesmen, Guide, §§ 46, 47 ; MacDonald's Documents. 

Maps. — MacCoun's Historical Geography ; Hart's Epoch Maps, 
Nos. 7, 8, II. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 200-212. 

Illustrative Material. — *Cooley's Michigan; ""Scharf's Mary- 
land; *Von Hoist's Constitutional History; Quincy's Figures of the 
Past; Cooper's Notions of the Americans; Kemble's Recollections of 
a Girlhood; M.cC\i\\oc\i's Men and Aleasures ; Va.xtoxi's Jacksoti ; Trol- 
lope's Manners of the Americans ; Wise's Seven Decades; '•'Gouge's 
fAfoney and Banking ; Olmsted's Cotton Kingdom ; Garrisons' LAfe of 
Garrison; Roosevelt's Winning of the West; Hale's Stories of Lnven- 
tions ; Hubert's Lnventors ; Hapgood's Daniel Webster. 

Seba Smith's LJfe and Letters of Major Jack Downing ; Lucy Lar- 
com's A New England Girlhood ; Longstreet's Georgia Scenes ; Hil- 
dreth's The Slave ; Hawthorne's Blithedale Romance. 

THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844 

271. Significance of Jackson's Election. — The election 
of Andrew Jackson to the chief magistracy marked the election. 

345 



Significance 
of Jackson's 



346 



The National Democracy 



[§ 272 



Andrew 
Jackson. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
112, 265. 



Popular 
sovereignty. 



Jackson's 
policy. 



close of the second great epoch in the history of the United 
States. He was in some respects a typical man of the 
people. Born in the CaroUna backwoods, he passed his 
boyhood amid the alarms and hostile encounters of the 
Revolutionary War. He then made his way over the moun- 
tains to the newer Carolina, which rapidly developed and 
was admitted to the Union as the state of Tennessee in 1796. 
Picking up a few scraps of legal knowledge, he became a 
lawyer ; but it was as a military man that he made his mark. 
Without fear, with boundless energy, and with a faith in his 
own judgment and good intentions scarcely ever surpassed, 
Jackson proved himself to be a born leader of men in time 
of stress. In the Indian wars of that period, and in the 
War of 181 2,. he led his men to victory. In every way 
Jackson was a fitting representative of frontier life, and 
now for the first time took a leading position in national 
affairs in combination with Eastern political leaders who 
saw no other way to the possession of power. 

272. Theory of Popular Sovereignty. — The Jacksonian 
theory of political existence, like the Jeffersonian doctrine, 
rested on the rights of the individual, but there the resem- 
blance ceased. Jefferson had aimed at the formation of 
local democracies, the state being the unit of political 
action ; Jackson and those behind him believed in the 
existence and in the building up of a national democracy. 
He was the administrator of a group of strong poHtical 
leaders, — Benton of Missouri, Van Buren of New York, 
Taney of Maryland, and Edward Livingston of Louisiana, 
but of the New York Livingston stock. They believed with 
Jackson, or, more likely, Jackson believed with them, that 
the Constitution should be strictly construed, at least as far 
as all ordinary functions of the government were concerned. 
" The reign of Andrew Jackson," as the eight years of his 
presidency has been picturesquely termed, was a period of 
strictly constitutional despotism. Internal improvements 
were put ruthlessly to one side, the United States Bank was 
ruined, and protection was lessened as much as could possi- 





^y£^^^^K^ 



^^^.^^y^^^-^^-^-'^^ 



After a painting by Longacre 



347 



348 The National Democracy [§ 273 

bly be done without losing the support of the West and 
North. Furthermore, Jackson and his friends beheved that 
the people of the United States should govern. Acting on 
this idea, they maintained that in electing Adams in 1825, 
the House of Representatives had refused to give the presi- 
dency to the man who was "entitled" to it by the voices 
of a majority of the voters. But the " sovereignty of the 
people," which was called in on that occasion and on all 
occasions of strain, as in the contest with the bank, was not 
in the Constitution. That instrument, on the contrary, had 
provided the means for thwarting the will of the people by 
the interposition of the electoral college in presidential 
elections and by the check exercised by the Senate in 
legislative business. ' It was, however, a most important 
day for the United States and for the American people when 
the forces of democracy adopted the idea of the sovereignty 
of the people of the United States. This new idea was to 
bear immediate fruit in Jackson's own time, in a manner 
that many of those who had voted for him scarcely dreamed 
of at the moment of his election. It will be well to examine 
the condition of the country at such an epoch-marking 
period. 
Numbe'-s, 273. Population and Area in 1830. — The population of 

^830- the United States was now slightly under thirteen millions, 

in comparison with five and one half millions in 1800. Of 
this increase of over seven and one quarter millions, not 
more than four hundred and fifty thousand were immigrants. 
It was in the first thirty years of the century that the 
institutions of the country became solidified on a demo- 
cratic basis, and this work was accomplished by the original 
population of the country and their children. English 
institutions remained the dominant institutions, and the 
English language remained the dominant language. 
Area, 1830. The area of the United States had more than doubled in 

the same time; in 1830 it was over two million square 
miles, in comparison with less than eight hundred and fifty 
thousand square miles in 1800. Meantime the settled area 



i83o] 



Population and Area 



349 




Backwoodsman, 1829 



had increased in about the same proportion : in 1830 it 
was six hundred and thirty thousand square miles, as against 
three hundred and five thousand square miles in 1800. 
This great increase in the area of settlement had been due, 



350 



The National Democracy 



[§ 273 



Growth of 
the West. 



The cities. 



for the most part, to colonization of lands west of the 
AUeghanies. Of the eight states admitted to the Union 
since 1800, only one (Maine) was situated on the Atlantic 
slope; the others (Ohio, 1803; Louisiana, 1812 ; Indiana, 
18 16; Mississippi, 181 7 ; Illinois, 1818 ; Alabama, 18 19; 
Missouri, 182 1) were all west of the AUeghanies. This 
rapid growth of the West had been partly offset by a large 
increase in the population of the seaboard states, but the 
center of population had moved westward one hundred and 
twenty-five miles, to the western boundary of Maryland ; in 
1800 it had been only eighteen miles west of Baltimore. 

The nation as a whole was still a rural people, as only 
about seven per cent of the population was collected into 
cities and towns of over eight thousand inhabitants (for 
1800, see § 214). Nevertheless, owing to the growing 
importance of manufacturing and commercial pursuits in 
the northeastern states, the tendency toward town life had 
become fairly apparent, so far as that section was con- 
cerned. The population of New York City had more than 
trebled, rising from sixty thousand, in 1800, to two him- 
dred thousand in 1830 ; of this increase, no less than eighty 
thousand had taken place in the last decade, 1820-30. 
Other large cities were Philadelphia, with one hundred and 
sixty-seven thousand inhabitants against seventy thousand 
in 1800; Baltimore, with eighty thousand, and Boston, 
with sixty-one thousand, in comparison with twenty-six and 
twenty- four thousand respectively in 1800. New Orleans, 
with forty-six thousand, was the only city of considerable 
size south of the Potomac and Ohio rivers, as Charleston, 
Savannah, Richmond, and Norfolk had not grown in pro- 
portion to the total populations of the states in which they 
were situated. On the other hand, Cincinnati, on the 
northern bank of the Ohio River, was already a thriving 
town of twenty-four thousand inhabitants. It seemed not 
unlikely that the same distinctions between the free and 
the slave states, noticeable east of the AUeghanies, would 
soon find their counterpart west of those mountains. 



i83o] 



Influence of Slavery 



351 



274. Influence of Slavery. — The total population had increase of 
more than doubled in thirty years, the slave population slaves. 
increasing in almost precisely the same proportion as the 
white population. The latter had numbered nearly four 
millions in 1800; in 1830 it was ten and one half millions; 
the slave population, in the same time, had increased from 
nine hundred thousand to over two millions, and there 




Density of population, 1830 

were about three hundred thousand free negroes in 1830, Distribution 
mostly in the Northern states. In 1800 the free white of slave and 

, - , J free popula- 

inhabitants had been distributed between the North and ^j^^^ 
South, in proportion of twenty-five to thirteen. In 1830 
the proportion was about the same ; but the South had 
maintained its place only through the acquisition of Louisi- 
ana and Florida and the rapid settlement of the states bor- 
dering on the Gulf of Mexico. The influence of slavery in influence of 
limiting population becomes at once apparent by a study slavery. 



352 



The National Democracy 



275 



of the figures relating to the thirteen original states. In 
1800 the free whites living east of the AUeghanies and 
north of Maryland had outnumbered those in the Southern 
states, excluding the people of Kentucky and Tennessee, 
two to one ; in 1830 they outnumbered them five to one. 
The introduction of improved methods of transport, and 
the further encouragement of Northern manufactures, would 
still further build up the manufacturing and commercial 





Improve- 
ments in 
transpor- 
tation, 
1800-30. 



Stagecoach, 1829 

towns in the northeastern states. Unless something were 
done to check this growth, the time was not far distant when 
the free population of the North would outnumber that of 
the South five to one. Discerning Southern leaders were 
already anxious over the outlook. In this fact is to be 
found the reason for their hostility to the continuance of the 
protective system, which they had helped to introduce. 

275. Improvements in Transportation. — It is difficult 
nowadays to understand the conditions of transport which 
prevailed before the development of the present railway 
system. To those living at the time of Jackson's inaugura- 



[830] 



Improvements in Transportation 



353 



Fulton's 

steamboat 

1807. 



tion, the improvements already made for the conveyance 
of passengers between the centers of commerce and gov- 
ernment seemed wonderful. In 1800 the stage drawn by 
horses had taken three days to convey a passenger from 
Boston to New York. The introduction of the steamboat 
at all possible points had reduced the time occupied by 
the journey, now performed partly by stage and partly by 
steamboat, by one half, — to about thirty-six hours. Boston 
was then about as far from New York as St. Louis is to-day. 

Fulton made his celebrated voyage up the Hudson in the 
Clermont in 1807. The steamboat was immediately in 
great demand, but it was not until Fulton's monopoly was 
declared unconstitutional that the building and operating 
of steam vessels became free to all. Before the outbreak 
of the War of 18 12 steamboats were placed on the Western 
rivers, at once changing the whole problem of emigration 
and settlement. In 18 18 the first steamer appeared on 
Lake Erie; in 1830 a daily line was running from Buffalo 
to Detroit. New types of steamers, especially designed 
for lake and river navigation, were rapidly built, and their 
use became well-nigh universal. With the improvement in 
steam navigation, the opportunity for its successful prose- 
cution was greatly enlarged by the opening of canals. 

The most important and successful of these was the Erie The Erie 
canal, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson. It will be ^^"^'■, . 

' ° Schouler s 

remembered that the Hudson and Mohawk rivers form a united 
natural break in the Appalachian system (§ 6), and this states, 
break continues westwardly from the head of the Mohawk ' ^"^ * 
to the Great Lakes. From the southern end of the Appa- 
lachian system in Georgia and Alabama, to its eastern and 
northern end in New England, this is the only opening of 
low altitude leading westward, and it was entirely suited to 
the building of a canal. The man who saw this, and whose 
name should always be remembered in this connection as 
a benefactor of mankind, was De Witt Clinton. To his 
energy and ability the building of the canal was due. It 
was opened in 1825, and at once changed the conditions 

2A 



354 



The National Democracy 



[§ 276 



Railroads. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
121-131. 



of Western life and made New York the great commercial 
metropolis of the country. Within a year, the cost of con- 
veying a ton of grain from Buffalo to Albany had fallen 
from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars ; the farmers of 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois had been brought within reach 
of the markets of the world. The success of the Erie canal 
gave rise to the building of canals in all directions, and 
induced Adams and Clay to recommend schemes of internal 
improvement which were distasteful to many of their sup- 
porters. The most remarkable of the later canals was the 
Chesapeake and Ohio, designed to connect tide water with 
the great interior waterways. These early canals were 
worked by horse power. Many of them were failures, but 
for a time they played an important part in the develop- 
ment of the country. 

276. Railroads. — On July 4, 1828, three years after the 
completion of the Erie canal, Charles Carroll of Maryland, 
the last survivor of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, drove the first spike on the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, the earliest line designed for the conveyance of 
both passengers and freight. By 1830 fifteen miles of it 
were completed. In the beginning, the cars or coaches 
were drawn by horses, but in 1829 one of Stephenson's 
locomotives was imported and served as a model until the 
first type of the American locomotive was evolved. By 
1832 the Baltimore and Ohio had reached a point seventy- 
three miles from Baltimore, and had been equipped with 
locomotives capable of making fifteen miles an hour. In 
1830 there were twenty-three miles of railroad in opera- 
tion ; building now proceeded rapidly, and by 1840 there 
were about twenty-three hundred miles in operation, or 
ready for traffic. Congress (1832) encouraged this work 
by providing that duties should be refunded on all rails 
laid down within three years of importation. At the outset, 
these roads were designed to connect towns already in 
existence, or the existing water routes ; they were intended 
to replace the stagecoaches. Afterwards the railroads were 



1830] 



Social Changes 



355 



generally built first, giving the means of settlement to a 
new section of the country, and then transporting the prod- 
uce of that region to the existing water communication. 
In this manner, the interior began to be settled away from 
the rivers. In the decade 1840-50, five thousand miles 
of railroad were built; but it was not until after 1850 that 
the pushing of the railroad into new sections was done with 
great vigor. Of the thirty lines at first projected, only 
three, and those short lines, were designed to be built south 
of the Potomac River. 

277. Other Inventions. — During this period there was a Inventions 
great change in the iron industry, due partly to the demand 

for iron in railroad building and operating, and partly, per- 
haps, to the tariff; but more especially to the introduction 
of anthracite coal for the smelting of iron. The same 
coal was also used in the furnaces of locomotives. The 
effect of this adaptation of anthracite to the production of 
iron was to centralize the iron industry in Pennsylvania. 
Coal also came into use for heating dwellings, and, coupled 
with the introduction of illuminating gas for street and 
house lighting, completely changed urban life in the North. 
At the close of this period came the introduction of another 
great invention, — the electric telegraph. By 1845, there- 
fore, American life, in the North at least, may be said to 
have thrown off the colonial guise, which it still wore at 
Jackson's inauguration, and to have taken on its modern 
form. 

278. Social Changes. — The growth of democratic ideas. Social 
of which the widening of the suffrage is one of the best tests, ^ a^g^^s. 
had now taken a firm hold on the people ; only two North- 
ern states preserved the old property franchise. With the 
coming in of new economic forces, wealth began to accumu- 
late in fewer hands ; corporations began to take the place 

of individuals ; and speculators began to make and lose for- 
tunes by holding Western lands, by manipulating railroad 
stocks, and by establishing moneyed institutions of one 
kind or another. 



356 



The National Democracy 



[§ 279 



Literary and 

scientific 

workers. 

Wendell's 

Literary 

History of 

America. 



Education. 



The change which had come over society was especially 
marked by the sudden outburst of an American literature. 
Of those who wrote before 1830, Bryant, Irving, and Cooper 
have made enduring reputations ; they were still at work. 
Between 1830 and 1845, Emerson and Hawthorne, Long- 
fellow and Lowell, Whittier and Holmes, Poe, Prescott, 
and George Bancroft began their labors ; Jared Sparks laid 
the foundation for the study of American history ; Kent, 
Story, and Wheaton began the publication of law books on 
scientific foundations ; and Asa Gray, Benjamin Peirce, 
J. D. Dana, Joseph Henry, Silliman, and Louis Agassiz 
began their scientific investigations and teaching. 

279. Education and Religion. — The colleges, also, awoke 
from their eighteenth-century lethargy ; but the progress 
made in the art of teaching was slight, except that science 
claimed more attention than had formerly been the case. 
One hopeful sign was the increased resort to the colleges 
and the interest taken in the higher education by the peo- 
ple. The common-school system spread throughout the 
new West, and it was greatly stimulated by the wise liber- 
ality of the government in devoting one thirty-sixth part 
of the public lands to that purpose. Unhampered by the 
traditions which encircled educational institutions in the 
older settled regions, these Western schools became, many 
of them, model institutions of their kind. 

Secondary education also began to assume prominence. 
To the " grammar " schools, which had now almost disap- 
peared, and the academies, never numerous, were added the 
high schools. Through these new institutions the urban 
communities provided by taxation fuller opportunities, 
especially in the modern subjects, and prolonged the 
period of public education from two to four years. Begin- 
ning in Boston (1821), high schools have spread first to the 
principal cities and then to all the larger towns, broaden- 
ing their scope as they have increased in number. Their 
service in stimulating elementary education and in train- 
ing, under democratic conditions, the young people from 





^^.Xl^^Z^ 



(Bs^a^ca&mU^Xsa, 




-^fet-'^'W^ 




c/^<^ 




American men of science 
357 



358 



The National Democracy 



[§280 



all social classes, is not easily overestimated. But little 
later in origin were the normal schools, in which teachers 
are trained for the common schools. These have more 
slowly but steadily multiplied. Not the least valuable 
part of their influence is seen in the somewhat recent 
establishment of courses in the art of teaching in the lead- 
ing universities. 

Religion. In religion, there was a great upheaval. The old forms 

of thought everywhere gave way, and new sects began to 
rise. The greatest blow given to the old order of things 
was the disestablishment of the Congregational Church in 
New England, and the vigorous growth of Unitarianism on 
its ruin. The Unitarians were not formidable in point of 
number, but the liberalizing tendencies of which they were 
the exponent were soon to dominate American life in the 
North. 

The South. In all this march of progress, in all this great mental and 

material awakening, the South had no part ; the census of 
1840 showed a large growth in every Northern state; at 
least one Western state had doubled its population in ten 
years ; the old South, on the other hand, seemed at a stand- 
still. Georgia, alone, had made an important gain. As 
it was in material affairs, so it was in intellectual matters : 
not one of the writers, poets, essayists, historians, or men 
of science whose names have been given above lived and 
worked in the South. Moreover, in 1840, no less than 
sixty-three per cent of the illiterate white adults were to 
be found in that section of the country. 

Party 280. The Spoils System, 1829. — Jackson's administra- 

organization. tjo^s mark not only a great change in the material and 
mental development of the nation ; they mark, also, a great 
change in political methods and modes of action. Up to 
this time there had been no national party machinery ; in 
most states, there had been no local party machinery. In 
two states, however, Pennsylvania and New York, most 
highly developed party organizations had been built up by 
Van Buren, Marcy, and other politicians of the new type. 



[83o] 



Webster and Hayne 



359 



It is hardly necessary to describe in detail the means by 
which these politicians compassed their ends : they are 
familiar to all. In brief, it may be said that they organized 
the party workers on a semimilitary plan, paying the laborers 
for their labor by public offices — when the party was success- 
ful. These politicians saw " nothing wrong in the rule that 
to the victors belong the spoils of victory." They now in- 
troduced the spoils system of party organization into national 
politics. 

Jackson, it was well known, regarded his fight for the 
presidency as a personal matter : those who helped him were 
his personal friends ; those who opposed him were his per- 
sonal enemies. It was generally expected that he would 
"reward his friends and punish his enemies." Removals 
at once began, and all who had not shouted loudly for Jack- 
son were displaced. Then came the turn of those who 
had been long in office, for long tenure was in itself an 
evidence of "corruption." In nine months, more than a 
thousand officials had been removed, as against one hundred 
^d sixty during all the preceding administrations. Appoint- 
ments were made on similar principles ; those who had 
"worked" for Jackson were presumably honest and efficient. 
The new President was anxious that only good men should 
be qmployed, but it was impossible for him personally to 
examine into the credentials of such hordes of applicants. 
In the end it appeared that many very unfit persons had 
been admitted to the public service. 

In his management of public business, also, Jackson 
broke away from all precedents. He held few cabinet 
meetings, and made up his mind chiefly on the advice of 
a small group of personal friends, — men of ability, — who 
formed what was known at the time as the " kitchen 
cabinet." 

281. Webster and Hayne, 1830. — A student skilled in 
the interpretation of historic facts might have predicted 
in 1828 that the moment was not far off when the South 
would again take up the weapon of " state interposition," 



The " spoils 
system." 



Jackson and 

the civil 

service. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

451-461. 



Position of 
the South. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
III, 482, 



36o 



The National Democracy 



F§28l 



which Jefferson had referred to in the original draft of 
the Kentucky Resolutions, and the New England Federal- 
ists had adopted during the troublous years 1807-15, and 
had finally set forth in the resolutions of the Hartford 
Convention (§§ 209, 343). It was the weapon of the 
minority : the Southerners were now rapidly falling behind 
in point of numbers, and they naturally occupied the po- 
sition which the New Englanders, who were now strong in 




Webster's house at Marshfield, Massachusetts 

their alliance with the Westerners, had abandoned. As one 
means of strengthening their position the Southerners tried 
to separate the Western men from those of the East on the 
ground that the latter were hostile to the further develop- 
ment of the West. 

The leaders in the debate were Robert Y. Hayne of South 
Carolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Drifting far 
away from the subject under discussion, Hayne set forth in 
luminous phrases the Calhoun theory of states' rights. In 
his splendid rejoinder, Webster stated the theoiy of national 
existence. This latter speech, full of burning enthusiasm, 



[83o] 



Webster and Hayne 



361 



richly deserves the foremost place it occupies among the 
masterpieces of American eloquence. Hayne rested his 
argument on the premises used by Jefferson and the men of 
New England : the Constitution was a compact, the states 
were sovereign when they formed it, and had retained their 
sovereignty, although creating another sovereign power. 
" In case of deliberate and settled differences of opinion 
between the parties to 
the compact as to the 
extent of the powers 
of either," Hayne 
maintained that " re- 
sort must be had to 
their common supe- 
rior, three fourths of 
the states speaking 
through a constitu- 
tional convention." 
This appeal could be 
made by any state, for 
" the federal govern- 
ment is bound to ac- 
quiesce in a solemn 
decision of a sovereign 
state, acting in its sovereign capacity, at least so far as 
to make an appeal to the people for an amendment to 
the Constitution." Webster, on his part, contended that 
the Constitution was in no sense a compact, but an in- 
strument whereby the "People of the United States" 
established a strong centralized government and endowed 
it with ample powers to enforce its rights ; for a state 
to resist the enforcement of a national law was revolu- 
tion if it succeeded, rebellion if it failed. The student 
will do well to study the more important portions of these 
speeches. 

Webster and Hayne between them had stated the two 
ideas of the Constitution around which the history of the 




Daniel Webster 
From photograph of Powers's bust 



Webster and 
Hayne, 1830. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
483-488 ; 
American 
History Leaf- 
lets, No. 30; 
Johnston's 
Orations, 1, 
233-302. 



Careless use 
of language. 



362 



The National Democracy 



[§281 



Comments 
on Webster 
argument. 



United States was to center for the next thirty years. Un- 
fortunately, in all these controversies, there was a most per- 
sistent use of loose language on the part of the Southerners. 
For instance, in the speech just quoted, Hayne spoke of 
"sovereign states" as having a "common superior." Of 
course a sovereign state has no superior; if a state has a 
superior, it is not sovereign. The Southerners, however, 
continued to' use precise terms in inaccurate senses, and 
thus deluded themselves with the belief that their states 
really were sovereign. Another example of the same mis- 
use of language is to be found in the sentences above 
quoted, for Hayne appeared to regard the federal govern- 
ment as a party to " the coinpact " by which it had been 
brought into existence. 

Henry Cabot Lodge, in his interesting life of Webster, 
maintains that Webster's argument was historically unsound ; 
he asserts that in 1787-8S "there was not a man in the 
country . . . who regarded the new system as anything but 
an experiment entered upon by the states, and from which 
each and every state had the right peaceably to withdraw, a 
right which was very likely to be exercised." He asserts, 
furthermore, " that when the Virginia and Kentucky Reso- 
lutions appeared they were not opposed on constitutional 
grounds, but on those of expediency and of hostility to 
the revolution [of 1800] which they were considered to 
embody." With this statement President Wilson in his 
" Division and Reunion " would appear to be in substantial 
accord, when he wrote : " The ground which Webster took, 
in short, was new ground ; that which Hayne occupied, old 
ground." Other writers, as Professor A. C. McLaughlin 
of Chicago University, maintain, on the contrary, that 
"since the adoption of the Constitution the American 
people have been legally a state, and that Calhoun and 
Jefferson Davis [and presumably the New England Federal- 
ists as well] were technically as well as morally wrong." 
Whatever may be the historical truth as between these dis- 
putants, there can be no question that Hayne and Calhoun 



1832] 



Nullification 



363 



stood for ideas which were soon to be repudiated by the 
majority of American citizens, and that Webster stated the 
theory of constitutional interpretation which was to be pre- 
dominant in the future, and to come victorious out of the 
test of civil war. 

282. Nullification, 1832, 1833. — In 1832, Congress took 
up in earnest the subject of tariff revision ; the rates were 
lowered but the protective system was reorganized on what 
promised to be a permanent basis. The South Carolinians 
determined to resist it, and to try the weapon of minorities, 
— " state interposition." The master spirit in this movement 
was Calhoun, and the upholder of the rights of the federal 
government was Andrew Jackson. Born in the same neigh- 
borhood, of the same Scotch-Irish stock, these two men had 
up to this time been friends. It now came to Jackson's ears 
that Calhoun, who had always expressed the highest regard 
for him, had actually proposed that Jackson should be cen- 
sured for his bold action in the Seminole War (§ 256). To 
one of the President's temperament, no friend could have 
made such a suggestion. Calhoun was read out of the party 
and his friends turned out of the cabinet. Even before this 
time, Jackson had given plain intimation of the line of con- 
duct he would take if South Carolina should attempt to 
assert her pretended right of " veto " of national laws. At a 
banquet on Jefferson's birthday, he had given the toast which 
dismayed his Southern hearers : " Our federal Union : it 
must be preserved." He also had already informed one 
South Carolinian that " if a single drop of blood shall be 
shed there [South Carolina] in opposition to the laws of the 
United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand 
on, upon the first tree I can reach." 

In November, 1832, Jackson was re-elected President by 
an overwhelming majority, receiving two hundred and nine- 
teen votes out of a total of two hundred and eighty-eight. 
He regarded this triumphant re-election as an indorsement 
of his political views, and indicative of the wish of the " sov- 
ereign people " that he should use his power to put his polit- 



Tariff of 

1832. 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 
43-53- 



Jackson and 

Calhoun. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, 

111,498. 



Jackson's 

re-election, 

1832. 



364 



The National Democracy 



Grievance 
of South 
Carolina. 



ical views into practice. In reality, the vote was due to his 
personal popularity, and to the lack of harmony in the ranks 
of his opponents. 

It is difficult to understand precisely what the grievance 
of the South was on the subject of the tariff. Calhoun had 
been one of the most ardent advocates of the establishment 




John C. Calhoun 

of the protective policy in 1816 (§ 252) ; it is hard to see 
how the South was being oppressed by its operation. Its 
exports were large : nearly three fourths of the total exports 
of the country came from that section. On the other hand, 
the increased prices to be paid for protected goods were 
paid equally at the North and at the South. The real fact 
at the bottom was that the South was faUing behind in 
material development ; that was due to slavery. The South- 



t833] 



The Compromise Tariff 



365 



erners had a sense of grievance, though they hesitated to 
recognize in what their grievance consisted, or that they 
alone were responsible for it. The leaders of South Caro- 
hna determined to make their power felt : they held a state 
convention (November, 1832), declared the tariff acts of 
1828 and 1832 null and void, and of no force. They for- 
bade South Carolinians to pay duties levied under the de- 
tested tariff acts after February i, 1S33. 

283. The Force Bill. — Jackson met the issue in a direct 
and soldierly fashion. In a proclamation (December 10, 
1832) he declared that "The laws of the United States 
must be executed. I have no discretionary power on the 
subject, — my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Con- 
stitution. . . . Their [the nuUifiers'] object is disunion, and 
disunion by armed force is treason." He also warned "the 
citizens of South Carolina . . . that the course they are 
urged to pursue is one of ruin and disgrace to the very 
state whose right they affect to support." He dispatched 
soldiers and naval vessels to Charleston, and directed the 
collector of that port to collect the duties, using force if 
need be. He also appealed to Congress to enlarge his 
powers to enable him to execute the law. Congress passed 
a bill — the Force Bill — giving him the powers he desired. 
It was evident that Jackson was in earnest. The South 
Carolina leaders, therefore, held an informal meeting, and 
suspended the operation of the nullification ordinance ; 
whence they derived the authority thus to overrule the will 
of the " sovereign people of South Carolina " has never been 
stated. ' 

284. The Compromise Tariff, 1833. — The matter, how- 
ever, was not to come to open warfare. The other South- 
ern states, although they sympathized with South Carolina 
on the subject of the tariff, and although many Southern 
men regarded secession as a right, did not agree with Cal- 
houn as to the efficacy or rightfulness of nullification. They 
ranged themselves on the side of the administration, or, at 
least, did not aid South Carolina. Virginia, on some con- 



Nullification, 
1832. 



Jackson's 
proclama- 
tion, 1832. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
IV, 89. 



Compromise 
Tariff, 1833. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, 
IV, 102 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, IV 
202-237. 



366 



The National Democracy 



[§285 



Early 

antislavery 

agitation. 

Johnston's 

Orations, 

II. 3- 



stitutional ground not easily discoverable, pretended to act 
in the guise of a " mediator." On the other hand, the 
administration itself, and many of its leading supporters, 
did not believe in protection, or, at all events, not in high 
protection. Clay seized this favorable opportunity to try 
to effect a compromise, and this he easily accomplished. 
The Compromise Tariff Act became law on March 3, 1833, 
one day after the Force Bill received Jackson's assent. It 
provided for a return to the low tariff of 18 16 by a gradual 
reduction spread over ten years ; one tenth of the excess of 
twenty per cent was to be removed each second year, until 
January, 1842, when one half of the remainder should be 
removed, the other half being removed in the following 
July. By 1843, therefore, the tariff would return again to 
the low duties of 1816 ; at the same time the protective 
principle, as a basis of national policy, would be saved. It 
was already known that South Carolina would accept this 
compromise. Accordingly, another state convention was 
held, the ordinance nullifying the tariff of 1832 was re- 
pealed, and another ordinance nullifying the Force Bill was 
passed. 

The real cause of grievance, as has been already stated, 
was not the tariff: it was the effects of slavery in limiting 
the South to agricultural pursuits. Instead of recognizing 
the mischiefs inevitable to this condition of affairs, and 
energetically going to work to relieve itself of the burden 
of slavery, the South, under the lead of Calhoun, changed 
its ground of attack, and recognized that " the basis of 
Southern union must be shifted to the slave question." 

285. The Antislavery Agitation, 1831-1838. — They ears 
of the nullification episode marked the beginning of an 
agitation against the further continuance of slavery which 
never ceased until slavery was done away with during the 
Civil War. In 1831 two occurrences brought the question 
before the people of the North and the South. The first 
of these was a slave insurrection in Virginia, the sec- 
ond was the establishment of the Liberator in Boston, by 



1833] Anti-Abolition Sentiment in the North 367 



William Lloyd Garrison. The insurrection at Southampton, 
Virginia, , was headed by Nat Turner, a negro slave, and 
resulted in the killing of sixty whites and of more than one 
hundred negroes before it was stamped out. To the South- 
erners, conscious of the perils always surrounding them, it 
appeared ' to be a dreadful affair. The Virginia legislature 
discussed the possibility of slave emancipation as a remedy, 
— the last time this subject was debated in any Southern 
legislature. The other Southern states made it the occasion 
for making sharper laws against the blacks, and one state, 
Georgia, by act of its legislature, promised a reward of five 
thousand dollars to any one who would kidnap Garrison and 
bring him into the state to be tried according to Georgia 
laws for inciting slaves to insurrection. As a matter of fact, 
there was no connection whatever between the publication 
of the Liberator and the Southampton insurrection. Wil- 
liam Lloyd Garrison, a Boston printer, had worked at Balti- 
more with Benjamin Lundy on his paper, the Genius of 
Universal Emancipation. Garrison had been imprisoned 
in consequence of an article he had written. He had come 
face to face with slavery on its own soil, and, returning to 
Boston (1831), established the Liberator, written in the 
most outspoken hostility to slavery. Garrison demanded 
immediate abolition of slavery, without compensation to the 
owners. " Let Southern oppressors tremble," he said, "... 
On this subject I do not wish to write with moderation." 
Kv the moment, however, the overwhelming sentiment in the 
North was against the abolitionists. A few examples will 
serve to show this. 

286. Anti- Abolition Sentiment in the North, 1833- 1837. — 
In 1833 a Connecticut schoolmistress, Prudence Crandall, 
admitted a colored girl to her school at Canterbury in that 
state ; the result was the passage of a law by the Connecti- 
cut legislature, prohibiting the establishment of schools for 
negroes or their admission to schools already established, 
without the consent of the local authorities. The same 
year a college for the education of blacks was established 



South- 
ampton 
insurrection, 
1831. 



Garrison 

and the 
I Liberator. 
I Old South 
I Leaflets, 

III, No. i; 
? Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

202~2l8. 



Abolitionists 
opposed in 
the North, 
1833-35- 



368 



The National Democracy 



[§287 



Breach of 
the Missouri 
Com- 
promise, 
1836. 



Slavery 

petitions 

presented 

to Congress, 

1836. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

220-228. 



The " gag 
resolutions." 



Calhoun on 
slavery. 



at Canaan, New Hampshire; a mob razed the building to 
the ground, and not one person was punished for the out- 
rage. Riots directed against the abohtionists also occurred 
in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In 1835 
Garrison was led about the streets of Boston with a rope 
around his body, and locked up in the jail by the authorities 
to protect him from worse violence. 

In 1836, also, the Missouri Compromise was broken by 
the addition to the northwestern portion of the slave state 
of Missouri of a strip of territory about as large as the state 
of Rhode Island, the land in question being part of that 
which, according to the Compromise of 1820, was to be 
forever free ; but slight attention seems to have been paid 
to the matter in the North. 

287. Slavery Petitions in Congress, 1836. — In the spring 
of 1836, the opponents of slavery began again to petition 
Congress in favor of the blacks. The Southerners became 
alarmed, for they dreaded the effect of constant discussions 
of the moral and constitutional position of slavery. At their 
instance, the House of Representatives passed a " gag reso- 
lution," providing that " all petitions, memorials, resolutions, 
propositions, or papers relating in any way ... to the sub- 
ject of slavery . . . shall, without being printed or referred, 
be laid on the table and that no further action shall be had 
thereon." Under the Constitution, Congress could not re- 
fuse to receive petitions ; could Congress, having received 
them, refuse to listen to them and to consider them ? John 
Quincy Adams, now representative from Massachusetts, 
thought not. When his name was called, he said, in a loud 
voice, refusing to be stopped : " I hold the resolution to be 
a direct violation of the Constitution of the United States, 
the rules of the House, and the rights of my constituents." 
In the Senate, Calhoun took very strong ground. He de- 
clared the petitions to be " a foul slander on nearly one half 
of the states of the Union." As to slavery, he said : " It 
has grown with our growth, and strengthened with our 
strength. It has entered into and modified all our institu- 



1836] Petitions in Congress 369 

tions, civil and political. None other can be substituted. 
We will not, cannot permit it to be destroyed. ... I ask 
neither sympathy nor compassion for the slaveholding states. 
We can take care of ourselves. It is not we, but the Union, 
which is in danger." Senator Buchanan of Pennsylvania 
warned Calhoun and the Southerners against the results of 
the course they advocated. " Let it be once understood," 
he said, " that the sacred right of petition and the cause of 
the abolitionists must rise or fall together, and the conse- 
quences may be fatal." The Southerners persisted, and the 
Senate also passed "gag resolutions." 

On the 6th of February, 1837, Adams presented a peti- J. Q. Adams, 
tion from twenty-two slaves and asked what should be done . °5^^f , 

. . J- Q- Adams, 

with it. The Southerners, irritated before, were now beside ch. iii. 
themselves with rage. They threatened him with the peni- 
tentiary, unmindful of the clause in the Constitution (Art. i, 
§ 6) which provides that no member of Congress shall " be 
questioned in any other place " for " any speech or debate 
in either House." Upon being reminded of that provision, 
they endeavored to have him censured at the bar of the 
House ; but Adams defended himself so manfully that the 
attempt was abandoned (February, 1837). 

Meantime another dispute, also turning on slavery, had' Abolition 
arisen. In i8ts the United States post office at Charles- Papers in 

, ^ 1- t 1 • 1 XT 1 the mails, 

ton, South Carolma, was broken mto, and Northern papers 1835-36. 

brought in the mails were seized and burned. Postmasters 
in other places applied to the Postm.aster-General, Amos A. , 
Kendall, for guidance as to how to deal with antislavery 1 
pubHcations destined for the South. The Postmaster-Gen- 1 
eral avoided giving a direct answer, but Jackson suggested 
the passage of a law to prevent the sending of " incen- 
diary publications " through the mails. Calhoun actually 
reported a bill to oblige Congress to prohibit the circulation 
of publications deemed by any state to be incendiary; but 
this failed of adoption (April, 1836). 

288. Change of Sentiment in the North, 1837, 1838. — 
The first martyr to the cause of abolition was a young New 

2B 



370 



The National Democracy 



w 



Murder of 
Lovejoy, 

1837- 

Schouler's 
United- 
States, IV, 
296-302. 



Johnston's 
Orations, II, 
102-114. 



Growth of 
antislavery 
sentiment i 
the North, 
1838. 



Relations 

with Great 

Britain. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, III, 

502- 




Englander, Elijah P. Lovejoy, who had become editor of a 
paper, the Observer, pubHshed at St. Louis. Lovejoy was 
not an out-and-out aboHtionist, hke Garrison ; he was an 
upholder of the freedom of the press. Soon St. Louis 
became dangerous for the outspoken man ; he removed to 
Alton in Illinois, where he would be in a free state. But 
there was no toleration for abolitionists or the upholders 
of free speech in that town, and Lovejoy was murdered 
while striving to protect his printing presses from those 
y^ J ^^ho wished to 

1837). A meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, Boston, where 
Attorney-General Austin of Massachusetts defended the 
attitude of those opposed to the antislavery agitation in the 
North, and maintained that they stood where the Massa- 
chusetts men of Revolutionary time — whose portraits hung 
on the walls about him — had stood. This was more than 
one Boston man could bear ; Wendell Phillips ascended the 
platform, and in burning language rebuked the " recreant 
American" who, in the interests of the slaveholders, had 
"slandered the dead." The limit of endurance had been 
reached ; public opinion in New England began to change. 
In 1838 the Massachusetts House of Representatives gave 
its hall to an antislavery society for a meeting, and the Con- 
necticut legislature repealed its black laws. Jackson's ad- 
ministration, therefore, marks the moment of that change in 
sentiment on the question which was to determine the course 
of the history of the United States for the next generation. 
289. Foreign Relations, 1829 -1837. — Jackson was as 
fortunate in his foreign policy as Adams had been unfortunate 
in his. Van Buren, Secretary of State during his first term, 
supplied the qualities needed in successful diplomacy, which 
Jackson lacked ; the President was an outspoken leader of 
men, the secretary a shrewd politician. Owing to the re- 
fusal of Congress to open the ports of the United States to 
British shipping, Great Britaiq had closed the West India 



1833] 



Jackson^ s War on the Bank 



371 



ports to United States vessels. Canning died in 1829, and 
in the ministry which followed, Lord Aberdeen was foreign 
minister. He listened to Jackson's overtures ; Congress 
removed many restrictions on British commerce, and Great 
Britain opened the West India ports to the commerce of 
the United States. 

With France there was a long-standing dispute as to the 
payment for spoliations on American commerce committed 
since 1803. In 1830 the French government agreed to 
pay five million dollars as an indemnity to the United States, 
but the French legislature refused to make the necessary 
appropriations. At one time, it seemed as if war were 
about to break out between the two countries. In the end, 
France gave way and paid the money (1835). Jackson 
also secured the settlement of long-standing disputes with 
Denmark and Spain, and brought other nations, like Austria, 
to recognize the importance of having friendly relations 
with the United States. 

290. Jackson's War on the Bank. — The Second United 
States Bank had been chartered in 18 16, five years after the 
older institution associated with Hamilton had come to an 
end by limitation. In the case of McCulloch vs. Maryland 
(18 19), the Supreme Court, through Chief Justice John 
Marshall, had decided that the charter of the Bank was 
legal and constitutional (§ 254), and this decision had been 
affirmed in 1824 in a subsequent decision. Jackson, never- 
theless, felt a dread of the Bank, and he did not regard 
Marshall's decision as in any way binding on the Executive. 
The President disliked the Bank because he saw in it a 
great monopoly stretching its arms over the whole country, 
able to determine by its action whether one section or 
another should be developed to its utmost. Furthermore, 
Jackson thought that the Bank" of the United States was a 
political machine, carried on in the interests of his enemies. 
There is no doubt that it had been badly conducted during 
the first years after 18 16, but for many years before 1829 it 
had been admirably managed by its president, Nicholas 



Relations 
with France, 
Schouler's 
United 
States, III, 
504, IV, 239. 



The Second 

UnitedStates 

Banlc. 

* Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

44. 



Jackson's 
views as to 
the Bank. 



372 The National Democracy [§ 290 

Biddle. The capital of the country was mainly in the hands 
of those who had slight confidence in Jackson, and the cus- 
tomers of the Bank were undoubtedly composed to a great 
extent of his opponents. Finally, Jackson, and those be- 
hind him, with their strict constructionist views, could 
hardly help reverting to the interpretation of Jefferson 
(§ 198), and regarding the bank charter as beyond the 
power granted to Congress in the Constitution. Jackson at 
once declared his open hostility to the Bank, and Henry 
Clay as eagerly championed the cause of the great institu- 
tion. As time went on, Jackson became more and more 
convinced of the truth of his suspicions, that the Bank was 
a great political machine. This was especially made evi- 
dent to him by the appointment of a strong opponent of his 
party as head of the branch at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 
The Jacksonian leaders in that state protested. The Secre- 
tary of the Treasury wrote to President Biddle remonstrating 
against what he regarded as a political appointment and 
suggested that the officers of the Bank should be appointed 
without regard to political preferences. Mr. Biddle, in re- 
ply, denied the secretary's right to interfere, at the same 
time asserting that the Bank was conducted without regard 
to politics. 
Clay In 1832, four years before the charter of the Bank would 

champions expire, and when Jackson's opponents, although in a major- 

trie C3.USC 01 . . ^", . . . 1 'ii 

the Bank, ^^J "^ Congress, had not sufficient votes to pass a bill over 
1832. Jackson's veto. Clay brought in a bill to recharter the Bank. 

Jackson promptly vetoed it, and the bill could not be passed 
over his veto. The matter, therefore, became one of the 
leading issues in the campaign of 1832. It seems extraor- 
dinary that a man of Clay's political experience should have 
hazarded victory or defeat on such an unpopular issue. 
Jackson asserted with truth that the Bank was an " un- 
American monopoly." It was entirely unlike the national 
banks of to-day, for a national bank can now be organized 
by any set of men who can find enough money to deposit 
the necessary bonds with the government. The people 



1833] 



Removal of the Deposits 



373 



1833- 

*SchouIer's 
United 
States, IV, 
132-170. 



sympathized most warmly with Jackson on this as on other 
issues. 

291. Removal of the Deposits, 1833. — One of the chief Removal of 
arguments in favor of the estabHshment of the Second Bank, *'^^ deposits, 
as of the earher one, was that it gave facilities for the 
collections and disbursements of the government. The 
revenues, as collected, were deposited in the Bank or its 
branches, and payments were made by drafts on the insti- 
tution. This business was done by the Bank for nothing, as 
the balances kept by the government enabled it to make large 
sums of money by loans. Apart from constitutional and 
political grounds, and granting the solvency of the Bank, 
the arrangement was most advantageous to the government, 
which saved all the money afterwards used in the con- 
struction of vaults, the payment of custodians, and the 
charges of transportation ; it was advantageous to the peo- 
ple, as the money paid to the government was not with- 
drawn from circulation and locked up, millions at a time, 
in the government vaults ; and it was advantageous to the 
Bank, as it gave it a larger amount of business. The dis- 
advantage was overbalancing ; at any time the Bank might 
exercise an overwhelming power in politics, controlling elec- 
tions by money and starving its financial opponents into 
subjection by the manipulation of exchanges and rates of 
interest. There is no doubt of the reahty of these dangers, 
nor is there any doubt that the Bank had taken part in the 
campaign of 1832. The charter of the Bank authorized 
the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit the revenues of the 
government with other banks at his discretion, stating his 
reasons for so doing to Congress ; this clause had been 
inserted to enable the government to deposit funds in state 
banks at points where the United States Bank had no 
branch. Jackson determined to use it to secure the with- 
drawal of all the government funds from the Bank. It was 
some time, however, before he could find a secretary who 
would do his bidding. At last he found such a man in 
Roger B. Taney of Maryland. The so-called " removal of 



374 



The National Democracy 



[§ 292 



The Senate 

censures 

Jackson. 

Jackson's 

Protest. 

Co7itempo- 

raries, 

III, No. 162. 



Speculative 
mania, 1837. 



the deposits " extended over a period of six months, and 
was not so much .a removal as a refusal to deposit more 
funds with the Bank to replace those drawn out in the 
ordinary course of business. The public funds were then 
deposited in certain specified state banks, popularly known 
as the "pet banks." The loss of so large a proportion of 
its deposits compelled the United States Bank to adopt 
severe measures to protect its credit and to meet the gov- 
ernment drafts. It called in large sums of money which 
were on loan, and this action brought about a dangerous 
scarcity of money before affairs settled down on the new 
basis. 

The Senate was still in the hands of Jackson's enemies. 
Under the lead of Clay and Webster, it passed a vote cen- 
suring the President for what he had done. To this Jack- 
son replied in a letter. He protested against the action of 
the Senate in censuring the President, which could only be 
done by impeachment. He declared that the chief magis- 
trate was entitled to interpret the Constitution for himself, 
and that he was not bound by the decisions of the Supreme 
Court, as each department of the government was independ- 
ent of the other two departments. Two years later Jack- 
son's party obtained control of the Senate, and the vote of 
censure was crossed out of the Journal of that body. 

292. Distribution of the "Surplus," 1837. — Historical 
students seem to be fairly well agreed that the check placed 
on the power of the United States Bank by the removal of 
the deposits was in itself a wise action, apart from the con- 
stitutional and political questions involved. The mode and 
time chosen for the accomplishment of this purpose, how- 
ever, were most unfortunate. The one institution which 
possessed the abihty to set bounds to reckless inflation and 
speculation was deprived of a great part of its power to do 
good, and nothing was put in its place. The government, 
so far from putting a check on the speculative frenzy which 
had taken possession of the people, actually increased it. 
Then, at last, becoming alarmed, Jackson interfered in his 



I836J 



The Specie Circular 



375 



masterful way and gave the signal for widespread financial 
disaster. 

On the first day of January, 1835, the last installment of 
the national debt was paid ; the government owed nothing 
and was collecting about thirty-five millions each year more 
than it could reasonably spend on objects which the strict 
constructionists of the Jacksonian school regarded as within 
the scope of the powers of the federal government under 
the Constitution. Moreover, the revenue could not be 
diminished, because it was collected in pursuance to the 
Compromise Tariff Act of 1833, which could not be dis- 
turbed without a breach of faith and without bringing on 
a political crisis that no one desired to see. At the present 
time, the government can hoard its surplus revenues in the 
vaults at Washington and the great financial centers ; but 
the independent treasury system was not then invented. 
No one thought of depositing more money with the " pet 
banks," which already held eleven millions. They were 
mostly situated in the speculative regions of the South and 
West, where democratic banks were abundant ; for, curi- 
ously enough, the administration that had objected to the 
Bank of the United States as a political institution — and 
it was not at the time the objection was made — saw noth- 
ing inconsistent in depositing the nation's money in banks 
which were political machines and little else. After various 
attempts to relieve the treasury, Calhoun came forward with 
a proposition to loan without interest the surplus funds to 
the states, in proportion to their representation in Congress. 
The money was said to be "deposited," to avoid the con- 
stitutional objection that Congress had no power to raise 
money by general taxation to pay over to the states. Three 
quarterly payments were made ; then the crash came, and 
the government found itself obliged to borrow money to pay 
current expenses. 

293. The Specie Circular, 1836. — The distribution of 
the surplus was the last thing needed to induce the states, 
especially the newer ones, to plunge into all sorts of extrava- 



Surplus 
" deposited' 
with the 
states. 



Paper 
money. 



376 



The National Democracy 



[§ 294 



Jackson's 

specie 

circular, 

1836. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

257- 



Martin 
Van Buren 
elected 
President, 
1836. 



gant expenditures. Especially they leaned their credit to 
speculative ventures, and piled up vast debts without a 
thought of the future. This speculative fever was only a 
reflection of what was everywhere going on : land in the 
Eastern cities was rising in price by leaps and bounds ; the 
public lands in the West were being acquired by speculat- 
ors, the sales increasing from three million dollars in 1831 
to twenty-five millions in 1836. The government, at that 
time, issued only gold and silver. The administration had 
endeavored to meet the legitimate demand for a larger cir- 
culating medium to carry on the business of the country by 
increasing its output of gold and silver coins, mostly the for- 
mer, and by making certain arrangements with the deposit 
banks, confining their circulation to bills of twenty dollars and 
over, and providing that they should keep a specie reserve 
of one third of the amount of their circulation. These 
measures had slight effect ; " wild-cat " banks increased 
enormously, and the flood of " rag-money " poured forth by 
them effectually destroyed whatever good the government 
measures might have done under ordinary circumstances. 
Jackson, against the advice of his cabinet, resolved to see to 
it that the government no longer received anything save 
gold and silver and notes of specie-paying banks in payment 
for the public lands, and issued a circular to this effect, 
— hence called the " specie circular." This order affected 
the banks in the newer states at once and disastrously. In 
the end it helped greatly to destroy credit everywhere. 
Loaning rates increased in some cases to as high as twenty- 
four per cent. Before the full results of his financial policy 
were apparent, Jackson retired from office, and, confident 
that the " specie circular " would restore prosperity, handed 
over the government to his friend and successor, Martin 
Van Buren. 

294. The Independent Treasury Act, 1840. — Martin Van 
Buren was regarded by his contemporaries as a self-seeking 
office-monger, and was held responsible for many of the 
evil proceedings of " Jackson's reign." This was natural 



[840] 



The Election of 1840 



377 



enough ; for Van Buren, who was not popular with the 
people, secured the Jacksonian vote by pledging himself 
to carry on the Jacksonian policy. But he was no mere 
politician ; indeed, during the critical years of his presi- 
dency he showed himself to be a man of principle, able to 
withstand popular clamor and to bear the strain of the 
unmerited distrust of his fellow-men. The reproach that 
has been cast upon him of being the author of the system 
of proscription of one's political opponents, which so un- 
happily mars Jackson's reputation, does not appear to be 
well founded. It is probable that Van Buren regarded that 
system as unjustifiable and did something to mitigate its 
severity. 

Jackson was scarcely out of office when the panic came. 
All the state banks suspended specie payment, and many 
of them failed, — among others, the "pet banks," with 
their nine millions of government money. Van Buren set 
himself to invent a plan which would separate the financial 
business of the government from the financial institutions 
of the country. This was the " independent treasury " 
scheme, or the " subtreasury " plan, as it is more often 
called. According to this device, which became law in 
1840, the government built great vaults at Washington, 
New York, Boston, Charleston, and St. Louis. At these 
places, and at the mints in Philadelphia and New Orleans, 
government officials were to receive and pay out the gov- 
ernment funds. 

295. The Election of 1840. — During the preceding dec- 
ade, the opponents of Jackson had become welded into a 
formidable party. The Jackson men, after calling them- 
selves Democratic Republicans, had dropped the Republi- 
can, and now became known as Democrats ; the Adams 
men, or National Republicans of the earlier day, had as- 
sumed the name of Whigs, probably to distinguish their 
reforming tendencies from the conservatism of the Demo- 
crats. The Whigs also employed their opponents' popular 
methods, and, indeed, outdid them in appeals to the passions 



The 

independent 

treasury 

scheme, 

1840. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

276-290, 324, 



Election 
of 1840. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
327-340; 
Stanwood's 
Presidency. 



378 



The National Democracy 



I§ 29s 



of the multitude. Complete party machinery was already 
organized : nominating conventions, party platforms, torch- 
light processions, and the rest. The campaign of 1840 
stands out in marked contrast to all preceding campaigns 
in appeals to the eye and to the senses. Van Buren was 
a candidate for re-election, and the Whigs nominated 
William Henry Harrison, who had been their candidate in 

1836, and John 
Tyler of Virginia, a 
life-long Demo- 
crat of the extreme 
Calhoun school. 
"Tippecanoe and 
Tyler too ! " became 
the war cry of those 
opposed to Van 
Buren. The Whigs 
put forward no prin- 
ciples save " Down 
with Van Burenism." 
They pictured the 
Democratic candi- 
date as " indifferent 
to the sufferings of 
the people," as sit- 
ting in a " stuffed 
chair " in the White 
House, and as eating out of gold spoons. On the other 
hand, they eagerly adopted the contemptuous assertion of a 
Democratic speaker, that Harrison would be satisfied if he 
were given a log cabin and a barrel of cider. . Log cabins 
were erected everywhere ; they were dragged around on 
wheels with men drinking cider before the doors. The cam- 
paign was one of "hurrah for Tippecanoe," the log-cabin, 
cider-drinking candidate. The Whigs won not merely the 
presidency, but with it a majority in both houses of Con- 
gress. A month after his inauguration, Harrison was dead. 




Whif.. 
Harrison'. 



Election of 1840 



i84i] 



Tyler's Administration 



379 



For the first time in the history of the country, a Vice- 
President became President owing to the death of his chief. 

296. Tyler's Administration, 1841-1845. — The first ses- 
sion of the first Congress under the new administration was 
held in May, 1841 . It at once became apparent that the trium- 
phant Whigs could not carry out their policy, and President 
Tyler was confronted by a hostile majority in both houses of 
Congress. Tyler was a Whig only in the sense that he was 
opposed to Jacksonianism, in so far as it departed from the 
old Jefiersonian lines. In other respects, he was a strict 
constructionist and a firm states'-rights man. Clay, who 
was the real leader of the Whig party, at once brought for- 
ward a set of measures of reform, as they were conveniently 
regarded. The first of them, to repeal the Independent 
Treasury Act of 1840, passed easily enough. When it came 
to chartering a new national bank, however, it was found 
that Tyler was opposed to the measure on constitutional 
grounds. It was understood that he would consent to the 
establishment of a bank in the District of Columbia with 
branches in such of the states as were willing to have them 
within their limits. A bill passed both houses, with the pro- 
vision for the District of Columbia, but without the provision 
for state assent ; Tyler vetoed it, and the Whigs had not the 
necessary two-thirds majority to pass it over his veto. A bill 
was drawn up for the establishment of a " fiscal corporation " 
in the federal district, with branches, which should not ex- 
ercise full banking privileges. This bill was elaborated after 
conferences with Tyler, and his assent to it was supposed to 
be assured ; when it came to him for his signature, he 
vetoed it. Every member of the cabinet resigned, except 
Webster, who remained to conclude important negotiations 
with Great Britain. 

More revenue was urgently needed, and the Compromise 
Tariff of 1833 (§ 284) having run its course was now capa- 
ble of amendment. The Whigs, therefore, brought in a 
tariff bill considerably increasing the duties from the twenty 
per cent basis, which had just been reached ; the bill, as 



Death of 

Harrison. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV. 

359-365- 



John Tyler, 
resident, 

1841. 



Tyler and 
the Whigs. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
372- 



Tariff of 

1842. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

406. 



38o 



The National Democracy 



[§ 297 



Northeastern 

boundary 

dispute. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

396-403. 



first passed, also contained a provision for the distribution 
of surplus revenue among the states. This measure was one 
of those to which Tyler had objected in Jackson's time. 
He vetoed the bill, and it was not until it came before him 
without this clause that he signed it. The other measure 
provided for the payment to the states of the money re- 
ceived from the sales of public lands ; this would have dis- 
guised the fact that the government was collecting more 
revenue under the new tariff than it could properly expend. 
The friends of a low tariff, however, secured an amendment 
whereby the distribution should take place only when the 
tariff on imports should fall below twenty per cent ad valorem. 
This clause rendered the bill inoperative, as the duties never 
fell to that point. 

297. The Ashburton Treaty, 1842. — Daniel Webster, 
whom Harrison had selected as Secretary of State, had 
opened negotiations with Lord Ashburton, British minister 
at Washington, for a settlement of the long-standing dispute 
with Great Britain, as to the northeastern boundary of the 
United States. The negotiators of the treaty of 1783 had 
plainly intended to give Canada the same southern boundary 
eastward that it had had according to the Proclamation of 
1763 (§ 106). This line followed the forty-fifth parallel 
from the St. Lawrence to the Connecticut, and thence along 
"the highlands which divide the rivers that empty them- 
selves into the River St. Lawrence from those which fall 
into the sea." These words were repeated in the treaty, 
except that "Atlantic Ocean" was substituted for "the 
sea," and the northeastern corner of the United States was 
declared to be " formed by a line drawn from the source 
of St. Croix River to the Highlands." In m^ps printed in 
Great Britain immediately after the conclusi* n of peace, 
this line was merely copied from earlier maps .showing the 
southern boundary of Quebec according to the Proclama- 
tion of 1763. But when the time came to run the line on 
the spot, the British government raised innumerable diffi- 
culties. First, there was a dispute about the identity of 



1842] The Ashburton Treaty 381 

the St. Croix River; that was set at rest by the discovery 
of the ruins of De Monts's houses (§ 35). Then the 
British advanced the theory that the " Highlands " men- 
tioned in the treaty were not those intended in the procla- 
mation, but were much farther south. They based their 
argument on the substitution of the words " Atlantic Ocean" 
in place of " the sea," and contended that the St. John's 
River emptied into the Bay of Fundy and not into the 
Atlantic Ocean. The " Highlands," according to this view, 
was a Hne drawn around the sources of the Penobscot and 
Kennebec, and not the water parting between the St. John's 
and the St. Lawrence. The dispute was referred to the 
king of the Netherlands as arbiter. Instead of deciding in 
favor of one of the contending .governments, he proposed 
a compromise Hne, which he had no right to do (1829). 
Meantime, the United States had built a fort at Rouse's 
Point on Lake Champlain. This point was south of the 
forty-fifth parallel according to old surveys, but more accu- 
rate observations showed that it was really north of that 
parallel and therefore in Canada. The controversy was Ashbm-ton 
now settled by Webster and Ashburton, by the adoption of Treaty, 1843 
a compromise line on the northeast (the present northeast- 
ern boundary of Maine) and the cession of Rouse's Point 
to the United States. At the same time, the extradition 
of certain specified classes of criminals was agreed to, and 
a long series of negotiations for the suppression of the 
African slave trade was arranged by the conclusion of what 
was called the "cruising convention," which obliged each 
nation to keep a squadron of a certain strength always 
cruising on the African coast. This arrangement produced 
less valuable results than its authors expected ; but Webster 
followed his Whig colleagues into retirement, convinced that 
he had done something " for the peace of the world." Be- 
fore long Calhoun succeeded him as Secretary of State- 



382 The National Democracy 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 273-279. The United States in 1830 

a. Examine the maps in §§ 215 and 274, and tabulate the growth 
of the several states; arrange the free and the slave states in separate 
columns. 

I). Bring to class digests of the lives of Robert Fulton and De Witt 
Clinton. 

§§ 271, 272, 280. Andrew Jackson 

a. .Study the career of Andrew Jackson under the following heads: 
personal appearance, personal influence; preparation for public life; 
military career, strength and weakness of character; importance of 
his administrations; has his influence on politics been good or bad? 

b. The constitutional theories of Jackson's party; state them at 
length; how much of them can you find in our political system to-day? 

c. Rise of the Spoils System : study it in a larger book and say 
whether Jackson's course was the result or the cause of the Spoils 
System.* 

§§ 281-284. The Nullification Episode 

a. Why was " state interposition " the " weapon of the minority " ? 
Ij. Define sovereignty. What is your idea of a state ? of a nation ? 
(-. Compare Jackson's action in 1832-33 with Buchanan's inaction 
in 1860-61. 

d. Had the South a real grievance in 1832? What was it? Give 
precedents for nullification. 

e. Was it fortunate or unfortunate that the dispute was compromised 
in 1833? Give reasons. 

§§ 285-288. Antislavery Agitation 

a. Slavery: has the history of any modern nation other than the 
United States been profoundly affected by slavery? What effect would 
slavery in a new country be likely to have upon free white immigra- 
tion, and why? 

Ik Were the "gag resolutions" a direct violation of the Constitu- 
tion ? Give reasons. What was the case as to " incendiary publica- 
tions"? 

§§ 290-294. Financial Affairs, 1830-40 

a. Supposing the "removal of deposits" to have been justifiable, 
was the mode in which it was done expedient ? Does the federal 
government now deposit money with the national banks ? 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 383 

/>. Discuss the minor constitutional questions involved: (i) Jack- 
sun's assumption of responsibility; (2) right of the Senate to censure 
the President; (3) right of the President to protest; (4) right of the 
Senate to expunge resolutions from its Journal. 

c. The Independent Treasury system : describe it and trace its his- 
tory to the present time; how are government payments made to-day ? 

d. State carefully the effects upon the crisis of 1837 of (^) develop- 
ment of machinery, (2) government deposits in state banks and the 
distribution of the surplus, (3) contraction of loans by the United 
States Bank, (4) Specie Circular. 



§ 295. Election of 1840 

a. Trace the formation of the Whig party. Was the Democratic 
party of 1840 any more the successor of the Republican party of 1 801 
than was the Whig party ? Give your reasons. 

6. If you had lived in 1840, what party would you have favored and 
why ? What would have been the case in 1824 ? 



§§ 296-297. Tyler's Administration 

a. Public lands: review history since 1780; describe Jefferson's 
and Gallatin's attitude towards; note as a party issue until the Civil 
War; what is the present policy as to public lands ? 

/>. The tariff: review history since 1816; how long were the low 
rates of the compromise tariff of 1833 in actual operation ? sketch 
briefly the history of the tariff in Great Britain, 1816-44. 

c. Trace the history of the Northeastern Boundary Dispute from 
1783, and describe the settlement made in 1842. Represent in colors 
this history upon a sketch map. 



General Questions 

a. Compare the leading men of this period with those of the period 
of the Federalist supremacy and with those of the Jeffersonian epoch. 

d. Review your notes on " Slavery," " Financial history," " Particu- 
larism," and prepare for continuous recitation. 

£. Represent upon a chart the origin and varying fortunes of the 
difTerent parties which have appeared up to 1844. 

d. Reports based on study of secondary authorities: assign to 
individual students the lives of the persons mentioned in § 279, also 
the lives of Garrison and of Phillips. 



384 The National Democracy 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 
(See note under this head at the end of Chapter I.) 

a. Summarize the arguments (l) of Hayne, (2) of Webster, (3) of 
Calhoun. 

b. Compare arguments (i) of Hayne and Webster, (2) of Webster 
and Calhoun. 

c. The Faneuil Hall meeting. 

d. Tabulate the electoral vote of 1840, and compare it with the 
electoral votes of 1824 and of 1844, 



CHAPTER XI 

SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, 1844-1859 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, 149-189; Wil= 
son's Division and Reunion, 141-204. 

Special Accounts. — Lodge's Webster ; Schurz's Clay ; Van Hoist's 
Calhoun; Dawes's Snmtier ; Bassett's Andrew Jackson ; Schouler's 
Unite J Slates ; *Rhodes's United States, especially vol. I, ch. iv(slavery) ; 
♦Greeley's American Conflict; *Goodell's Slavery; Clarke's Anti- 
Slavery Days; *Draper's Civil War; *Taussig's Tariff History; 
Adams's Da7ia ; Spring's Kansas; Larned's History for Ready Ref- 
erence; Wilson's Presidents. Larger biographies of the leading 
statesmen, Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — • American History Leaflets ; Benton's Abridgment and 
Thirty Years'' View; ^\2L.cDoTi3\A^% Documents ; '^\\C\^ms>^% Statesman's 
Manual; Greeley's Slavery Extension; Johnston's American Ora- 
tions. Writings of leading statesmen, Guide, §§ 46, 47. 

Maps. — Mac Coun's Historical Geography ; Hart's Epoch Maps, 
Nos. 7, 8, II, 12. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 212-228. 

Illustrative Material. — McCulloch's Men and Measures; ^zx- 
geni's Public Men ; Blaine's Twenty Years; Bruce's Houston; Gar- 
risons' Garrison; Ripley's War with Mexico; Grant's Personal 
Memoirs; Wise's Seven Decades; Pike's Eirst Blows of the Civil 
War; May's Recollections ; *Stephens's War between the States; ^&n- 
hotn's John Brown; Pollard's Z(75/ Cause ; Frederick Douglass's Life 
and Times ; Elson's Side Lights on American History ; Paxson's Last 
American Erontier. 

Lowell's Bieloiu Papers, Ode to Garrison, and Eugitive Slaves; 
Longfellow's Poems on Slavery ; Whittier's Angels of Buena Vista 
a.nd A ntt- slavery Poems ; Tourgee's Hot Ploiushares ; Eliot's Story of 
Archer Alexander; Bret Harte's Tales of the Argonauts, and other 
stories of California life. 

SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, 1844-1859 

298. Necessity for More Slave Territory. — In the great 
material expansion which had marked the period since the DODuiation 
2 38s 



Influence of 
slavery on 



■586 Slavery in the Territories [§ 298 

close of the War of 1812, — more especially the years suc- 
ceeding Jackson's election, — the South had enjoyed a share. 
Slaveholding states on the Gulf of Mexico had been ad- 
mitted to the Union, and three slaveholding states had 
been formed out of territory comprised in the Louisiana 
Purchase. The older Southern states had grown slowly, 
and had been outstripped by the older Northern states, 
while the free states of the Northwest had developed with 
startling rapidity. The census of 1840 plainly showed that 
the Southern states as a whole were falling behind in popu- 
lation and wealth when compared with the Northern states 
as a whole — for negro slavery was adapted only to agricul- 
tural employments. 
Undue Up to this time, the Southern voters had enjoyed an 

power of undue, even a controlling power in the national councils, 

the South. ' , r 1 , • ., / . r, N 

owing to the operation of the "federal ratio (§ 182), 
which gave them representation in the lower branch of the 
federal Congress out of all proportion to their numbers. 
The North had developed so fast that there was no longer 
any hope of retaining control of the House of Representa- 
tives. The Southerners' only hope lay in the formation 
of new slave states, each of which, regardless of popula- 
tion, would send two senators to Washington. It might be 
possible, perhaps, to convert one or more of the free states 
to slavery ; but no state which had once been free soil had 
ever returned to slavery. It was also possible to break the 
Missouri Compromise — as had already been done (§ 286) 
— and build up slave states in the unorganized national 
domain west of the Mississippi. The easiest way to ac- 
complish their end, however, was to acquire new territory 
more suitable to slavery than that west and north of 
Missouri. Texas offered the best chance, and to its 
acquisition the Southern leaders bent all their energies. 

Meantime, the never-ceasing efforts of the Northern 
abolitionists were beginning to bear fruit. Slowly but 
surely they were bringing the mass of the people in the 
North to regard slavery as morally wrong. The time was 



i84S] 



Annexation of Texas 



387 



not far distant when Northern pubhc opinion would be fixed 
on one point : that slavery should not blacken more of the 
soil of the United States. The Southerners, on the other 
hand, were unanimous that "expansion was as necessary to 
the increased comfort of the slave, as to the prosperity of 
the master." 

299. The Annexation of Texas, 1845. — Texas had, prac- 
tically been seized by immigrants from the Southern states. 
They had over- 
turned its constitu- 
tion as one of the 
states of the Mexi- 
can Republic ; had 
adopted a new con- 
stitution, permitting 
slavery ; and, under 
the leadership of 
Samuel Houston, 
had proclaimed 
their independence 
(1836). Mexico 
had failed to con- 
quer the rebellious 
province, and Texas 
had been recog- 
nized as an inde- 
pendent state by the 
United States and by several European powers. The people 
of Texas desired to be admitted to the Union as a slave state, 
and the Southerners were desirous that this wish should be 
granted. It proved, however, to be a most difficult matter 
to manage. It would certainly arouse dangerous excite- 
ment in the North, and for this reason both Jackson and 
Van Buren would have nothing to do with it. Tyler, a 
slave owner of the Calhoun school, had no such scruples. 
With the profoundest secrecy, he and Calhoun, who was 
now Secretary of State, negotiated a treaty of annexation. 




Samuel Houston 



Independ- 
ence of 
Texas, 1836. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 

247-257- 
302-307. 



Southerneis 
desire 
annexation 
of Texas. 



388 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 290 



Election 
of 1844. 
Stanwood's 
Presidency. 



This was laid before the Senate for ratification. That body 
refused to assent to it (1844), and the controversy became 
the leading issue in the presidential campaign of that year. 
The Democrats nominated James K. Polk of Tennessee. 
In their platform, they declared for the annexation or re- 
annexation of Texas and for the reoccupation of Oregon. 
The latter territory was too far north for the economical 
development of slavery, and its addition was coupled with 
that of Texas to make the acquisition of this vast slave 

territory more palatable 



Annexation 
of Texas, 
1845- 



to the people of the 
North. The Whigs 
nominated Clay, and 
the abolitionists, who 
were now gathered into 
a party of their own, 

— the Liberty party, 

— also nominated a 
candidate, and thereby 
insured the election of 
the Democratic nomi- 
nee. In point of fact, 
it was difficult for an 
opponent of slavery to 
choose between the 
two leading candidates. 
Clay did not seem to 
know his own mind 
on the subject ; he said 

one thing one day, another thing another day. Polk, on 
the contrary, declared for annexation, and was elected. His 
election decided the matter; Congress at once passed a 
joint resolution admitting Texas to the Union as a slave 
state, which Tyler signed as one of his last acts as President. 
Texas gave its formal assent on July 4, 1845, and became a 
state of the American Union. According to the Texans' 
view of their boundaries, the new state extended northward 




Election of 1844 



1846] 



Mexican War 



389 



to the forty-second parallel ; the resolution admitting Texas 
provided, therefore, that slavery should not exist in the new 
acquisition north of the line of the Missouri Compromise 
(36° 30'), The value of this concession was disputed by the 
Northerners, Greeley asserting that Texas did not approach 
within two hundred miles of the compromise line. The 
limits of Texas on the south and west were also doubtful. 

300. Mexican War, 1846- 1848 The United States and 

Texas contended that the new state extended as far south- 
ward and westward as the Rio Grande. This river had 
been the limit of Texas in 1800, when Spain ceded it 
back to France, and also when the United States acquired 
it from France as a part of Louisiana in 1803 (§ 228). 
As one of the states of the Mexican Republic, however, 
Texas had extended only as far south as the Nueces 
River. Polk decided to insist on the former inter- 
pretation. He ordered General Zachary Taylor, who 
had been sent to Texas with about four thousand men, 
to cross the Nueces River, and later ordered him to 
advance to the Rio Grande. The Mexicans, regarding 
this forward movement as an invasion of their rights, 
attacked and defeated a small detachment of Taylor's army. 
When the report of the conflict reached Washington (May, 
1846), the President informed Congress that "Mexico has 
shed American blood upon American soil. War exists, 
and exists by the act of Mexico herself." Congress accepted 
the issue thus raised, and war followed. The Mexican War 
was in reality an attack on a weak nation by a strong one. 
It happened, however, that the United States armies in the 
field were always largely outnumbered. The American 
soldiers won renown by the splendid fighting qualities they 
displayed, and the chief commanders gained great military 
reputations. The victories of Palo Alto, Resaca de la 
Palma, and Buena Vista are associated with Taylor's 
name ; those of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, 
Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec with that of the com- 
mander in chief, Winfield Scott. Many of those who after- 



Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 

440-451. 
470, 486. 



Boundaries 
of Texas. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 
518. 



War with 

Mexico, 

1846-48. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, IV, 

525-549. 
V, 1-61. 



39° 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 300 



wards played an important part in tlie Civil War received 
their training in this conflict ; Grant, Thomas, Lee, 
Jackson, and others served with credit in various capaci- 





Wintield Scott 
After a daguerreotype by Gurney 

ties. While these campaigns were in progress in Mexico 
(1846, 1847), other expeditions seized California and 
New Mexico. On February 2, 1848, a treaty was signed 
at Guadalupe Hidalgo, which, with unimportant amend- 



1846] 



The Oregon Treaty 



391 



merits, was ratified by both parties. This agreement pro- 
vided that the United States should pay fifteen miUion 
dollars direct to Mexico, and some three millions more to 
American citizens who held claims against Mexico. That 
republic, on its part, relinquished to the United States all 
territory north of the Rio Grande and the Gila rivers ; the 
cession comprised Texas, in the widest sense of the word. 




The United States, 1845 

New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and parts 
of Colorado and Wyoming. During Polk's administration, 
also, the boundary of the United States on the northwest 
was established substantially as it is to-day. 

301. The Oregon Treaty, 1846. — That portion of America Oregon 
lying west of the water parting of the Mississippi and the ^gj^'g^'^g"' 
Pacific coast systems and north of the forty-second parallel schouier's 
was called Oregon. Its northern limit had been defined in United 

, . , -r, • .1 * states, IV, 

1824 and 1825, by treaties between Russia on the one part, ^04_5i3. 
and the United States and Great Britain on the other, as 



392 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 301 



Title of the 

United 

b<tates. 



Title of 

Great 

Britain. 



the parallel of 54° 40' north latitude (§ 260). The owner- 
ship of this vast region had remained disputed between the 
United States and Great Britain; since 1818, it had been 
occupied jointly by the citizens and subjects of the two 
powers. The British occupation had taken the form of fur 
trading ; that of the United States was actual settlement in 
the fertile valleys accessible through the passes of the Cor- 
dilleras. The title of the United States was extremely 
vague. It was composed of many elements : (i) the dis- 
covery of the Columbia River by Captain Gray in the Boston 
ship Columbia ; (2) the assignment under the Florida treaty 
of whatever rights the Spaniards might have gained by dis- 
covery and exploration ; (3) the exploration of Lewis and 
Clark ; and (4) actual settlement. Many other points 
were advanced, but these were the principal ones. It was 
not argued that any one of them gave a good title ; but 
it was argued that, taken all together, they constituted a 
better title than that of any other nation. To this the 
British negotiators opposed similar shadowy arguments ; 
for instance, they maintained (i) that Drake had sailed 
along the coast before any Spaniard ; (2) that the Spanish 
rights amounted to little in view of an agreement as to this 
coast in 1790, known as the Nootka treaty; (3) that an 
English navigator had made a more thorough exploration 
than Gray had undertaken, although it had, in fact, been 
made later, and had been based on information furnished 
by the American ; and (4) that the British fur-trading 
companies had practically occupied this region. These 
claims were so vague that compromise was inevitable. 
In 1844, however, the politicians took the matter up as 
a means of propitiating the North as to Texas : the cries 
of "All Oregon or none," "Fifty-four forty, or fight," 
were raised. For a moment it seemed as if the United 
States would go to war with Great Britain and Mexico at 
the same time, but more peaceful counsels prevailed. For 
some years the United States had been willing to continue 
the forty-ninth parallel — the boundary between the Lake 



[846] 



The Walker Tarif 



393 



of the Woods and the Rockies — westward to the Pacific 
Ocean. This line would have given the southern end of 
Vancouver Island to the United States, and with it the con- 
trol of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, affording the best 
route from the Pacific to the great bays and sounds between 
Vancouver Island and the continent ; but Great Britain 
would not consent. It was now agreed (1846) that the 
boundary between the two powers should be the forty-ninth 
parallel, as far as Vancouver Sound, and should thence 
follow the middle of the channel to the ocean. 

302. The Walker Tariff, 1846. — The triumphant elec- 
tion of Polk, and the consequent return of the Democrats 
to power, was naturally signalized by a reversal of the finan- 
cial policy of the Whigs, and a return to that of the pre- 
ceding decade. This change was brought about by the 
re-enactment of the Independent Treasury Act, and by the 
passage of a new tariff law. The former was substantially 
a repetition of the act of 1840 (§ 294) : subtreasuries were 
to be re-established at the more important commercial cen- 
ters, and provision was made for the safe and economical 
handling of the pubhc moneys. The system has been 
modified from time to time to suit the growing needs of 
the country, but its essential features are still law. 

The new tariff act was based upon the recommendations 
of Robert J. Walker, Polk's Secretary of the Treasury, and 
is always called the Walker Tariff. Under it, imported 
articles were arranged in several schedules, — A, B, C, and 
D, and so on to I, which included articles specifically placed 
on the " free list." Each schedule had its own rate of duty : 
schedule A, 100% ; B,40% ; €,30% ; D, 25%, etc. Articles 
not included in these schedules were to pay 40% ad valo- 
rem. All the duties were calculated on a valuation made in 
foreign ports, instead of so much on the valuation of the 
commodity in America. This arrangement resulted in gross 
frauds, and inflicted great hardships on honest importers. 
The system was, as Webster declared, " not free trade, but 
fraudulent trade." 



Oregon 
treaty, 



Tariff of 
1846. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, IV, 

514-517 ; 

Taussig's 
State Papers, 
214-251. 



394 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 302 



Prosperity, 
1846-57. 



The country was very prosperous during the years that the 
Walker Tariff was in operation. Many writers friendly to 
free trade have maintained that this prosperity was due to 
the operation of the Walker Tariff, which, in their opinion, 
was practically a free-trade measure. Other students point 
out that it is absurd to regard it as a free-trade measure, 
since the reduction on the rates of 1842 was only about one 
sixth. They argue, moreover, that there is no historical 

evidence to show that 
this comparatively 
slight reduction had 
any considerable in- 
fluence upon the com- 
mercial and industrial 
development of the 
country. They con- 
tend that the remark- 
able prosperity of 
the country between 
1846 and 1857 was 
due to its rapid settle- 
ment, which was made 
possible by many 
things over which 
tariff legislation had 
little or no influence. 
For instance, there 
was a great increase 
in foreign immigration in these years (§ 319) and the railroad 
Influence of system of the country was greatly extended. Inventions, 
also, marvellously increased the efficiency of human labor 
and superintendence. For example, the successful intro- 
duction of the electric telegraph, owing to Morse's invention 
(1837), made it possible to operate great railway systems; 
and farming on a large scale was immeasurably promoted by 
the introduction of agricultural machinery, as the McCormick 
reaper (invented 1831). The most important manufacture 




L/. yr /-It/ /^f^i^ 



C 



^t-t-t-f^'^ 



inventions. 



McCormick 
reaper. 



1848] 



California 



395 



of the United States until recent times was the manufacture 
of farms, and this was more dependent on the development of 
railroad transportation and farm machinery than on the 
movement of tariff duties within the narrow limits affected 
by the Walker Tariff. 

303. California, 1848- 1850. — On the 24th of January, 
1848, — ten days before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 




Sutter's mill 



was signed, and fully three months before it was ratified, — 
James W. Marshall discovered several bits of gold in the 
earth taken from Colonel Sutter's mill race in Coloma, Cali- 
fornia. Further investigation confirmed the discovery, and 
before long the existence of gold in that region was known 
throughout the world. From all parts of the United States 
and from Europe, gold hunters sought the new Eldorado. 
Over the plains and the Cordilleras, across the Isthmus of 
Panama, and around Cape Horn, they thronged to Call- 



Discovery 

of gold in 

California, 

1848. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

132. 



396 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§303 



fornia. Most of them came from the northern American 
states, but there were many Southerners as well. Before 
November, 1849, ^nore than eighty thousand immigrants — 
"the forty-niners," as they were termed — reached the land 
of promise. Their number already exceeded that necessary 
for a territorial organization, and they had scarcely any gov- 
ernment at all. Compelled by necessity to establish some 




California 
demands 
admission 
as a free 
state, 1849. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
142. 



The United States, 1853 

form of government, and inspired by the suggestions made 
by an agent sent by General Taylor, the new President, they 
held a convention (November, 1849), drew up a state con- 
stitution, — excluding slavery, — and applied for admission 
to the Union as a free state. Soon Californian commis- 
sioners appeared at Washington, and demanded that Cali- 
fornia should be admitted as a free state. Congress was in 
this way forced to come to some decision as to the disposal 
of the vast domain which had just been gained from Mex- 
ico ; but the task was a hard one. 



t848] 



The Election of 1848 



397 



304. The Wilmot Proviso, 1846. — Even before the 
Mexican War had fairly been begun, and before the United 
States had gained a foot of Mexican soil, an attempt had 
been made to settle this question in favor of freedom. The 
occasion was furnished by the introduction of a bill to pro- 
vide money for the purchase of territory from Mexico. 
When it was before the House, David Wilmot, a Democratic 
representative from Pennsylvania, moved an amendment in 
the form of a proviso that slavery should be forbidden in 
any territory thus acquired. The bill, with the amendment, 
passed the House, but failed to become law, as the Senate 
did not act upon it until the House had adjourned for the 
session (August, 1846). In the new Congress, elected the 
following November, the Whigs were in a majority in 
the House, but the Democrats retained control of the 
Senate. Meantime, the leaders of the latter party in the 
South had made up their minds to oppose the Wilmot Pro- 
viso should it again be introduced. Accordingly, after con- 
siderable delay, an appropriation bill was passed, without the 
slavery prohibition. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had 
added some eight hundred thousand square miles of terri- 
tory to the national domain, most of it lying south of 36° 30' 
north latitude, the parallel of the Missouri Compromise line. 
Should slavery be permitted in this vast region, or should 
the principle of the Wilmot Proviso be adhered to ? The 
settlement of this question was regarded by Southerners as 
most important; it appeared scarcely less important to those 
Northerners who were determined that a limit should be set 
to the extension of slavery. This controversy dominated all 
others in the election of 1848. 

305. The Election of 1848. — No fewer than five political 
organizations took part in this contest. First there were 
the Democrats, who nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan, a 
shrewd, clear-headed Northern Democrat. He had com- 
mended himself to the Southerners by the advocacy of the 
doctrine of " squatter sovereignty," according to which the 
people of each territory were to determine the question of 



The Wilmot 

Proviso, 

1846. 

Schouler's 

United 

Stales, V, 

65-69. 



Election of 
1 84*. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
loo-iio; 
Stanwood's 
Presidency. 



398 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 305 



freedom or slavery for themselves. This idea was closely 
related to the Democratic doctrine of states' rights, and its 
adoption seemed likely to prevent a split in that party on the 
question of the extension of slavery. The Whigs nominated 
General Taylor of Louisiana for President, and Millard Fill- 
more of New York for Vice-President. They made no state- 
ment of their principles, and thus endeavored to shirk the 




The Barn- 
burners. 



Election of 1848 

question of the greatest interest in the campaign. By this 
time, the slavery controversy had gone far toward bringing 
about the destruction of political parties in the North. A 
section of New York Democrats, bearing the curious name 
of " Barn-burners," was opposed to slavery in the territories. 
Their delegates appeared at the Democratic convention as 
rivals to another group of delegates, who harbored no such 
scruples. The convention decided to admit both delega- 
tions, who should share the votes of New York between 
them ; both delegations withdrew. The Barn-burners, 



1849] 



Taylor'' s Policy 



399 



with the assistance of delegates from a few other states, then 
held a convention of their own, and nominated Martin Van 
Buren. Another party, the " Free-soilers," which had a 
larger following, held a convention at Buffalo. Delegates 
from eighteen states appeared. They adopted a platform 
which declared for "free soil for a free people." They 
maintained that slavery was a state institution, and as such 
the general government had no right to meddle with it ; but 
they denied the competence 
of Congress to permit slavery ,.t """~"~' 

in the territories. They, too, 
nominated Van Buren. The 
Liberty party (§ 299) also held , 

a convention, and nominated a 
candidate of its own, John P. 
Hale of New Hampshire ; but 
he withdrew in favor of Van 
Buren. The election was very 
close, but the desertion of the 
New York Democrats caused 
the electoral vote of that state 
to be given to Taylor and Fill- 
more, and thus decided the 
contest in favor of the Whigs. 

306. Taylor's Policy, 1849, 1850. — The conflict over 
the Wilmot Proviso and the presidential campaign, in which 
one of the three candidates stood for the limitation of slave 
territory, had at last attracted the attention of the Northern 
people to the cause underlying the politics of the time : the 
existence of slavery in the South and of freedom in the 
North, The contest had not merely aroused interest and 
sentiment, it had called forth a dangerous spirit on both 
sides of Mason and Dixon's line. Southern extremists were 
determined to destroy the Union if the principle embodied 
in the Wilmot Proviso became a part of the law of the 
land ; Northern extremists were desirous of destroying the 
Union if slavery were not abolished in the slave states. 




William Lloyd Garrison 



The Free- 
soilers. 



The Liberty 
party. 



Election of 
Tavlor. 



Slavery in 
politics. 



400 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 306 



The 

abolitionists. 



Taylor's 
policy. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
142. 147, 159. 



— no Wilmot Proviso would satisfy them. The Constitution 
was in the way, it was said. The abolitionists answered that 
the North should withdraw from the detestable bargain, and, 
paraphrasing the words of the Prophet Isaiah, declared that 
" the Constitution is a covenant with death, and an agreement 
with hell." Other Northern extremists were determined that 
the further extension of slavery should cease ; as to slavery 
in the states, they contended that that was a state matter. 
Between these two bodies of extremists stood the mass of the 
people of both sections, who were desirous to put the whole 
matter aside, and proceed with the development of the 
country, leaving the future to take care of itself. Of South- 
ern moderates were men like' Clay and Benton, sincere 
lovers of their country and anxious to prevent sectional 
strife. The Northern moderates were also sincere lovers 
of their country. They thought as little about the slave 
question as possible, — if the Southerners wished to ruin the 
South by perpetuating the institution, that was the South- 
erners' business ; they had no strong moral feelings against 
slavery, and probably disbelieved most of the facts which 
the abolitionists were ever dinning in their ears. 

The new President, Zachary Taylor, was a Louisiana sugar 
planter, the owner of a hundred slaves, and the father-in- 
law of Jefferson Davis, one of the senators from Mississippi. 
Like most Southern men, he came to Washington with the 
preconceived idea that the Northerners were the aggressors ; . 
he soon discovered that, with the exception of the small 
body of Northern abolitionists, who exercised no political 
influence at Washington, the aggression was all on the side 
of the South. Moreover, he speedily fell under the influence 
of William H. Seward of New York, one of the antislavery 
leaders in the Senate. Taylor determined to settle the 
matter in a direct soldieriy fashion. He sent agents to 
California and New Mexico urging the settlers in those dis- 
tricts to form state constitutions, and seek admission to 
the Union. California at once complied. When Congress 
assembled in December, 1849, the President announced that 



i85o] 



Compromise of iSjo 



401 



California asked to be admitted as a free state. The South- 
erners were beside themselves — they felt that the richest 
country, and that portion best suited to slavery of all the 
vast region acquired from Mexico, had been filched from 
them. The matter was further complicated by the fact that 
Texas claimed a large part of New Mexico as rightfully 
belonging to her, and threatened to take possession by force 
if her claims were not allowed. Jealous of his successful 
rival, as some writers have asserted, or, as is more likely, 
fearful lest the passions already aroused would lead to con- 
flict, Clay determined to effect a compromise. 

307. Compromise of 1850. — Clay proposed to settle at 
one and the same time all the disputes which had grown 
out of the slavery contest. His scheme is always spoken of 
as a compromise, and so it was in the ordinary meaning of 
the word ; but the South gained so much more than the 
North that its adoption was in reality a victory for the slave 
power. The only concession to the North was the prohibi- 
tion of the slave trade within the District of Columbia. 
California was to ^ 
be admitted as a ^ '^^'^ 
free state. The 
Southerners re- 
garded this as a 
great surrender 
to Northern senti- 
ment ; but it would be difficult to understand how the 
demand of California for admission as a free state could 
have been refused by them in view of the doctrine of" squat- 
ter sovereignty " which they advocated. The gains to the 
South were (i) the confirmation of slavery in the District 
of Columbia; (2) the organization of Utah and New Mexico 
as territories without any mention of slavery — leaving that 
matter to be settled on the theory of squatter sovereignty, in 
accordance with the wishes of the settlers ; (3) the payment 
of a large sum of money to the slave state of Texas to secure 
a relinquishment of her claim to a portion of New Mexico; 




Clay's 

compromise 
propositions, 
1850. 

Schouler's 
C nited 
States, V, 
161-170, 

195-199; 
Mac- 
Donald's 
Documen- 
tary Source 
Book, 
PP- 383-394- 



402 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§307 



Clay's views 
on the crisis. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1,120 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, II, 
202-218. 



Calhoun's 
demands. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1, 127; 
Johnston's 
Orations, II, 
123-160. 



(4) a resolution by Congress to the effect that that body 
had no power over the interstate slave trade ; and (5) the 
passage of a stringent fugitive slave law. Clay realized that 
this so-called compromise was distinctly in favor of the 
South ; but he argueti that the dispute as to slavery was a 
matter of sentiment with the Northerners, of interest with 
the Southerners. Sentiment must yield to interest. Clay 
spoke and acted for conservative Southern slave owners. 
Rethought that safety lay in a "union of hearts" to be 
brought about by mutual concessions — which meant North- 
ern concessions. Probably he was sincere in his belief as 
to the efficacy of his compromise scheme to prevent dis- 
union and secession. 

Calhoun represented Southern extremists. He had no 
faith in a union of hearts, or any union, except one in which 
the South should forever enjoy equal power with the North, 
no matter what the relative population and resources of the 
two sections might be. " Squacter sovereignty " had no 
meaning to him, and he regarded the action of the Cali- 
fornians as a piece of gross impertinence ; it was necessary 
for the North to concede " to the South an equal right in 
the acquired territory, and to do her duty by causing the 
>) y stipulations 

tive slaves to be 
faithfully fulfilled ; to cease the agitation of the slavery ques- 
tion ; and to provide for the insertion of a provision in the 
Constitution by an amendment which will restore to the 
South, in substance, the power she [once] possessed of pro- 
tecting herself." He did not define a plan to bring about 
this political equiUbrium between the two classes of states. 
After his death, it appeared that what he had in mind was 
the repeal of all laws which had established a national gov- 
ernment, and the adoption of an amendment to the Con- 
stitution providing for the election of two presidents, one by 
the slave, the other by the free states, and each to approve 
of all acts of Congress before they became laws. Webster 



1850] Compromise of 1850 403 

expressed the views of many Northern conservatives. He Webster's 
approved the compromise plan: slavery was already "ex- Seventh 

, , , r , • • , , , ; . , • , of March 

eluded from the territories by the law of nature, of physical speech. 

geography." Webster spoke on March 7, 1850, and his Rhodes's 

speech is always referred to as the " Seventh of March "f^^^ 

. . iitates, 1 , 137 ; 

Speech." These opinions were those of the leaders who Johnston's 

had governed the country since the War of 181 2 ; they all Orations, 11, 
died within three years. New men were coming to the front, 

among them William H. Seward, senator from New York. Seward's 

He denounced the proposed compromise as in the interests assertion. 

of slavery — ■" all measures which fortify slavery or extend it, unHed 

tend to the consummation of violence, — all that check its States, 1,162; 

extension and abate its strength, tend to its peaceful extir- ontempo- 

° _ ' _ varies, 

pation." Thrusting aside historical subtleties and constitu- iv, 56. 
tional distinctions, he declared that " there is a higher law 
than the Constitution," which he described as " the law of 
nature written on the hearts and consciences of freemen." 

There was a majority in both houses for each of Clay's The 
propositions taken by itself; but the voters for and Compromise 
against the several parts of the scheme were different. It 
resulted from this that the propositions failed to pass as a 
whole, and also when presented in three separate bills. Mean- 
time, Taylor had been managing matters in his own straightfor- 
ward fashion. Had he lived a few months longer, California 
would probably have been admitted without any compro- 
mise. Suddenly, on July 9, 1850, he died, and Fillmore, 
Seward's political rival in New York, became President. 
Webster became Secretary of State, and the compromise 
measures were passed, though not in their original form. 
As finally effected, the Compromise of 1850 provided for 
(i) the admission of California to the Union as a free state, 
(2) the prohibition of the slave trade in the District of 
Columbia, (3) the organization of Utah and New Mexico 
as territories with no restriction as to slavery, (4) the pay- 
ment of ten million dollars to Texas in satisfaction of her 
claims to a portion of New Mexico, and (5) the passage 
of a severe fugitive slave law. 



404 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§308 



Southern 

policy. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

214. 



The Fugitive 
Slave Act. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1, 185. 



-308. Fugitive Slaves. — Whatever good results might 
have followed from the Compromise of 1850 without the 
Fugitive Slave Law were more than offset by the passage 
of that measure. There could be no " union of hearts " 
in face of it. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act was 
one of the worst blunders in the long series of errors 
which led to the perpetuation of slavery in the South. 
Every day that slavery existed, the South grew weaker 
morally, materially, and politically. As it was, Southern 
policy clearly demanded that the slave owners should 
avoid every irritating question and should seek to discover 
the best means by which slavery could be checked and 
brought to an end. In place of so doing, they seized every 
occasion to push the further extension of slavery and to 
fasten the institution on themselves and their posterity ; 
they lost no opportunity to bring the matter prominently 
before the people of the North, and compel them to think 
about it whether they would or not. The execution of the 
Fugitive Slave Law did more to arouse the moral sentiment 
of the Northerners than the arguments of the abolitionists 
had done in twenty years. It may be asserted that the 
people of the free states — whether for freedom or slavery 
in the South or in the territories — were unanimous for free- 
dom on their own soil. Furthermore, the execution of the 
law brought the people of the North face to face with cer- 
tain phases of slavery in whose existence most of them had 
persistently refused to believe. Moreover, there seems to 
have been no adequate reason for the passage of the law. It 
has been stated that only one thirtieth of one per cent of 
the slaves escaped in any one year. Some scheme of in- 
surance against slave escapes would have fully protected 
every Southern slave owner at trifling cost. 

The act itself appears to have been drawn with the ex- 
press object of humbling the Northerners. The right to a 
jury trial was denied to the person designated as a fugitive 
slave ; the affidavit of the person claiming the negro was 
sufficient evidence of ownership ; the writ of habeas corpus 



1852] 



Fugitive Slaves 



405 



was denied to the reclaimed negro ; and the act was ex post 
facto. The authors of the bill forgot, however, that while a 
jury trial was denied to the negro claimed as a fugitive, 
neither it nor the writ of habeas corpus was or could be de- 
nied to the rescuer of the negro from the clutches of the 
fugitive slave hunter; nor were any means provided by 
which a state could be punished for placing obstacles in the 
way of the carrying out of the act. 

Agents of the slave owners soon appeared in the Northern 
states, and more seizures of fugitives occurred in one year 
after the passage of the act than in all the sixty years before. 
Except in a few cases, it was found to be impossible to secure 
and retain possession of the runaways. State after state 
passed "personal liberty laws" which practically nullified 
the operation of the act. Some of these laws imposed 
heavy fines on state officers who in any way assisted the 
pursuers of fugitives ; others prohibited lawyers who pros- 
ecuted in these cases from the practice of their profession ; 
and still others forbade the confinement of fugitives in state 
prisons. The most famous cases of rescue and attempted 
rescue were those of Shadrach, the Christiana riot (1851), 
Burns (1854), the Oberlin-Wellington rescue (1858), and 
the legal struggle which occurred in Wisconsin in 1858-59. 
Perhaps the most dramatic episode was the attempt of 
Thomas Wentworth Higginson and others to rescue An- 
thony Burns ; it failed, but it is said to have cost the gov- 
ernment one hundred thousand dollars to return this one 
fugitive to his master. Another result was a great increase 
in the facility for escape offered to fugitives in the Northern 
states. This was popularly known as the "underground rail- 
road," and its activity and efficacy increased enormously. 
Bearing all these things in mind, it is no doubt true, as 
Senator Benton declared, that the act " has been worth but 
little to the slave states in recovering their property." 

309. Election of 1852. — Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's 
Unc/e Tom's Cabin was published in the summer of 1852. Its 
success was unprecedented in the history of American litera- 



Sumner's 
speech on 
repeal of this 
act is in 
Johnston's 
Orations, II, 
268-340. 



Rescues of 
fugitives, 

1851-59- 

Schouler's 
^ Untied 
{ States, V, 
' 204, 294 ; 

Rhodes's 

United 
\ States, I, 
1 208, 222, 499. 



Uncle Tom's 
Cabin. 



4o6 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§309 



Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1,278. 



ture, and the effect produced by its publication was most 
important and far-reaching. It has been related that just 
after the battle of Bull Run Lincoln met Mrs. Stowe for the 
first time and greeted her as " the little woman who caused 
this great war." This story may not be true, but it is certain 
that Unck Tom exercised a tremendous influence in arousing 



Election of 
1852. 

Stanwood's 
Presidency ; 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
240-250. 




Harriet Beeciier Stowe 
From a contemporary engraving 

public opinion in the North. It is remarkable, however, 
that the Democrats were successful in the election which 
followed immediately on its appearance. 

The Democrats nominated a comparatively unknown man, 
Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire ; the Whigs chose as 
their standard bearer the most successful soldier in the 
country, Winfield Scott. The Free-soilers also had a can- 
didate in the field, but their strength had declined since 
1848. The Democrats were now united, while the attempt 
of the Whigs to avoid expressing an opinion on the slavery 
question had weakened them in the North without increasing 



1854] 



The Kansas-Nebraska Act 



407 



their strength in the South. The Free-soilers, by attracting 
Whig voters, really aided the Democrats. Ridicule was 
heaped on Scott, who was a man of showy habits, and 
not always happy in the use of language. The real reason 
for the Democratic success, however, was a mistaken feel- 




Election of 1852 

ing that with that party in control of the government, less 
would be heard of the contest over slavery. 

310. The Kansas-Nebraska Act. — For ten years since 
1844, Stephen Arnold Douglas, senator from Illinois, had 
been anxious to secure a territorial organization for the 
region west of Iowa and Missouri. Unless this was done, 
it might become an Indian reservation, which he undoubt- 
edly thought would be a sacrifice. In January, 1 854, Douglas 
introduced a bill to provide for the organization, as the terri- 
tory of Nebraska, of all the Louisiana Purchase north of the 
line of the Missouri Compromise (36° 30' north latitude), and 
west of the states of Missouri and Iowa. It was proposed 



The Kansas- 
Nebraska 
Act, 1854. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
279-292 ; 
* Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1 , 424 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, III, 
50-87. 



4o8 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 311 



Opposition 
to the 
passage of 
the act. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1,441 ; 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
III. 3-49. 



that this territory should be admitted to the Union at some 
future time as one state or as several states, "with or without 
slavery as their constitution may prescribe at the time." On 
being reminded that this region had been devoted to freedom 
by the terras of the Missouri Compromise, Douglas asserted 
that that compromise had been superseded and repealed 
by the Compromise of 1850. He maintained that he now 
merely proposed to extend the principle of " popular sov- 
ereignty" to the country north of the line of 1S20. He 
was driven to do this by " a proper sense of patriotic duty." 
He repeated Webster's argument that slavery was excluded 
by nature from the proposed territory. Before its passage, 
the bill was changed to provide for the organization of two 
territories : Kansasand Nebraska in place of one, Nebraska, — - 
Kansas to include the region between 37° and 40° north lati- 
tude, and Nebraska that between 40° and 49°. Kansas, 
as thus defined, would be situated directly west of the slave 
state of Missouri, and Nebraska of the free state of Iowa. 
Probably this division was made in the expectation that 
Kansas would become a slave and Nebraska a free state. 
The bill as finally passed also declared that the Missouri 
Compromise had been suspended and made inoperative 
by the principles of the Compromise of 1850. 

311. Appeal of the Independent Democrats, 1854. — 
Douglas's declaration that the opening of the territories 
to slavery was a matter of no great moment, did not com- 
mend itself to the antislavery leaders. Senator Chase of 
Ohio asserted that the proposed measure was " a violation 
of the plighted faith and solemn compact [the Missouri Com- 
promise] v/hich our fathers made, and which we, their sons, 
are bound by every sacred tie of obligation sacredly to main- 
tain." The old political leaders had passed away ; new men 
had come to the front : Seward, Wade, Hale, but none more 
outspoken than Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. He 
joyfully welcomed the issue raised by the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill: "To every man in the land, it says with clear pene- 
trating voice, ' Are you for freedom or are you for slavery? ' " 



[8s4] Appeal of the Independent Democrats 409 



Some of the leading opponents of the measure summed 
up their objections to it in a document entitled, Appeal 
of the hidepetident Democrats. They arraigned the bill " as 
a gross violation of a sacred pledge [the Missouri Compro- 
mise] ; as a criminal betrayal of precious rights ; as part and 
parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude from a vast unoccupied 
region immigrants from the Old World, and free laborers 




" Appeal 
of the 

Independent 
Democrats." 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 17. 



Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 

from our own states, and convert it into a dreary region of 
despotism, inhabited by masters and slaves. 

" Take your maps, fellow-citizens, we entreat you, and see 
what country it is which this bill gratuitously and recklessly 
proposes to open to slavery." As to the statement that the 
Missouri Compromise had been made inoperative by the 
Compromise of 1850, the "Independent Democrats" de- 
clared in a postscript to the " Appeal " that such a statement 
was "a manifest falsification of the truth of history." 

^12. Popular Sovereignty. — " Popular sovereignty," or Popular 

j-uf sovereignty. 

" squatter sovereignty," is thus defined m the Kansas- 



4IO 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§ 312 



Wishes of 
the slave 
owners. 



Abraham 
Lincoln. 
Morse's 
Lincoln. 



Nebraska Act : "The true intent and meaning of this act [is] 
not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to ex- 
clude it therefrom, but to leave the people the;reof perfectly 
free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their 
own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United 
States." Apart from the question of the violation of the 
Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was fatally 
incomplete in providing no efficient means for the peaceful 
occupation of the territories by free immigrants, or by slave 
owners with their slaves. On the face of it, all that the slave 
owners asked was to be allowed to carry their slaves with 
them ; " in reality," as Senator Benton said, what the slave- 
holder wanted was " to carry the state law along with him to 
protect his slave," or rather his interest in his slave. It was 
necessary, therefore, the moment a slave entered a territory to 
enact a complete code of slave laws to keep him in bondage. 
It was impossible to permit slave owners and free immigrants 
to live together under a territorial organization, and settle the 
question when the time came to seekadmission into the Union. 
Douglas's ablest opponent in Illinois was Abraham Lin- 
coln, who had already served one term in Congress, but had 
not been re-elected. While in Congress, he had made one 
speech which is interesting to note in view of his later career. 
It was in 1847 that Lincoln declared : "Any people anywhere 
have the right to rise up and shake off the existing govern- 
ment, and form a new one that suits them better. . . . Nor 
is this right confined to cases in which the whole people . . . 
may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people, that 
can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of 
the territory as they inhabit." This would appear to be a 
recognition of the doctrine of " popular sovereignty " in its 
most extended application. But Lincoln now opposed most 
warmly the application of it made in the Kansas-Nebraska 
Act : " I admit that the emigrant to Kansas and Nebraska 
is competent to govern himself, but I deny his right to 
govern any other person without that person's consent." 
The act was especially defective in that it contained no 



1855] The Struggle for Kansas 411 

means of ascertaining the " popular sovereign's " will. 
Bloodshed was inevitable; "will not the first drop of blood 
so shed be the real knell of the Union?" 

313. Struggle for Kansas, 1855-1861. — The slave owners Kansas, 
and their friends at once prepared to take possession of Schouler's 
Kansas, which they appear to have regarded as rightfully states, v 
belonging to them. Bands of " Sons of the South," as they 320-333; 
called themselves, or "Border Ruffians," as the free-state (^""^''"'P''- 

varies, 

settlers soon came to regard them, now crossed the frontier iv, Nos. 38, 
of Missouri to seize the government of the new territory, and 39- 
to occupy the best lands until actual settlers should appear 
from the South. The Southern settlers never came in any 
force. The slave owners were well to do and possessed 
freedom of movement to a certain extent. It was easy for 
one of them to take a number of slaves, migrate to a neigh- 
boring slave state, and establish a new plantation like the one 
which he had left behind him. When it came, however, to 
making a long journey to an unknown region whose climate 
might prove injurious or fatal to his blacks, and to engage 
in new forms of agriculture, — to which he and his slaves 
were unaccustomed, — that project was one not to be lightly 
undertaken. It proved, indeed, nearly impossible to induce 
the slave owners to remove.. It was of little avail to encour- 
age the emigration of Southern whites, unless a considerable 
body of slaveholders and slaves accompanied them ; the 
story of California had shown that Southern whites, mingled 
with a mass of Northern whites, would unhesitatingly vote to 
exclude slavery from their new home. 

Settlers from the free states were confronted by none of Freeemigra- 
the impediments which beset the slaveholders, but difficulties |^°" *° 
caused by distance, expense, and opposition of the " Border 
Ruffians " were to be overcome. The hindrances of distance 
and expense were surmounted by rich New Englanders, — 
as Amos A. Lawrence, — who formed the New England Emi- 
grant Aid Society. Northern settlers soon thronged to 
Kansas ; but the opposition of the Sons of the South re- 
mained to be vanquished. 



412 



Slavery in the Territories 



[li'^i 



Election in 
Kansas, 

i8s5- 



The Topeka 
Convention, 

1855- 



Civil war in 
Kansas. 



i.ecompton 
Constitution. 



The first territorial election was held in 1855, and the 
Sons of the South carried the elections for the proslavery 
party by the use of fraud and violence. In the town of 
Lawrence, for example, seven hundred and eighty-one votes 
were cast, although there were only three hundred and 
sixty registered voters on the list. The legislature, elected 
in this manner, was entirely under the control of the pro- 
slavery men. It adopted the laws of Missouri in bulk — 
slave code and all — as the laws of the new territory; it 
went even further, and passed severe laws to punish inter- 
ference with slaves. The free-state settlers then proceeded 
to establish a government of their own ; they held a con- 
vention at Topeka, drew up a constitution, and applied to 
Congress for admission to the Union as a free state (1855). 
A committee of the House of Representatives visited Kan- 
sas. It reported that the elections to the legislature had 
been carried by "organized invasion." The House then 
voted to admit Kansas as a free state under the Topeka 
constitution, but the Senate refused to agree to this, and put 
an end to all hopes of a peaceable solution of the question. 

The conflict in Kansas now assumed the form of open 
war. Slave partisans attacked Lawrence, and burned sev- 
eral buildings. The free-state settlers retaliated ; one of 
the latter encounters was the massacre of several Sons of 
the South, at Pottawatomie, by a band led by John Brown. 

It is difficult to say which 
party behaved with the most 
intemperance and disregard of the rights of others. At all 
events, it was certain that this application of the doctrine 
of "popular sovereignty" had resulted in civil war. 

In 1857 the free-state settlers obtained control of the 
legislature ; but one of the last acts of the fraudulent 
legislature had been to provide for a constitutional con- 
vention to be held at Lecompton. About one third of the 
ballots cast for delegates to this convention were fraudulent. 
When the constitution was submitted to the people for rati- 
fication, the question upon which they were really asked to 



t/o^'^Tny ^^o-p-u^n/ 



i85- 



The Struggle for Kansas 



413 



vote was whether Kansas should be a state with Umited or 
unUmited slavery. This method of defeating the will of the 
" popular sovereign " was more than Douglas could bear ; 
he broke with the administration. An effort was made to 
effect a compromise ; but, on a fair election, the people of 
Kansas refused to compromise by a vote of nearly eleven 
thousand to over two thousand. It was not until 1861 that 
Kansas was admitted to the Union. 

Before 1845, foreign immigration to the United States 
had been on a scale so small as to attract slight atten- 
tion, practically none from the politicians. Some jealousy 
of foreign immigrants had been shown in 1844, but it 
was not until 1852 that opposition to the "foreign ele- 
ment " became the basis of a political organization extend- 
ing over many states. Then was formed the American 
party, whose idea was that "Americans must rule America." 
At the back of this organization was a secret order whose 
members, when questioned by outsiders as to their prin- 
ciples and methods, professed an entire ignorance ; they 
were hence called "The Know-nothings," and the Ameri- 
can party was more usually called the Know-nothing party. 
In 1854, not long after the passage of the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act, an election was held for members of Con- 
gress. In the House of Representatives, which had passed 
that measure, the Democrats had a majority of over eighty. 
Of the forty-two Northern Democrats who had voted for 
the bill, only seven were re-elected. The Anti-Nebraska 
men, as the opponents of that measure were called, left the 
Democratic and Whig parties and joined the Free-soilers 
and the Know-nothings — the Whigs generally joining the 
latter, who showed unexpected strength in 1854, and espe- 
cially in the state elections in 1855. The new Congress 
which met in 1855 contained representatives of all three 
parties and fragments of parties. Gradually, as the contest 
in Kansas grew fiercer, the Anti-Nebraska men began to 
draw together, and, going back to the party organization of 
the earlier time, began to call themselves Republicans. 



The Know- 
nothings. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, 1 1 , 50 



Anti- 
Nebraska 
men. 




Sumner and Longfellow 
From a contemporary print 



4.14 



[8s6] 



Election of i8j6 



415 



Four conventions were held in 1S56 to nominate candi- Party 
dates for the presidency. The Know-nothings, who now conventions, 
advocated a pohcy of " do nothing " on the slavery question, 
nominated Millard Fillmore of New York, who, as President, 
had signed the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Whigs nomi- 
nated him also. The Republicans, now including in their 
ranks the old Free-soilers, the Northern Anti-Nebraska 




Elec'.ion of 1 8^6 



Democrats and Whigs, and such of the abolitionists as were 
willing to exercise their political rights, nominated John C. 
Fremont, an army officer who had been active in the 
seizure of California. The Democrats nominated James 
Buchanan of Pennsylvania for President and John C. Breck- 
inridge of Kentucky for Vice-President : they elected their Election of 
candidate, but the Republicans showed most unexpected ^^56. 
and starthng strength : in 1852 the Democrats had carried 
every state, North and South, save four; in 1856 they 
were successful in only four Northern states. The Re- 



4i6 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§314 



Stanwood's 

Elections, 

192-213 ; 

Schouler's 

(jHited 

States, V, 

349-356. 



The Dred 
Scott case, 

1857- 

Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 

376; 

* Rhodes's 
United 
States, II, 
251; 

Johnston's 
Orations, 
111,154-167; 
Contempo- 
raries, IV, 
Nos. 41-43. 



publicans won Delaware and every Northern state except 
the four which remained faithful to the Democrats. The 
Free-soilers had cast one hundred and fifty-seven thousand 
votes in 1852 ; the Republicans cast one million three hun- 
dred and fifty thousand votes in 1856, only five hundred 
thousand less than the Democrats. The Whig party and 
the Know-nothings disappeared ; the Republicans had no 
following in the South ; and the Democratic party re- 
mained the only political organization which in any way 
united the free North and the slaveholding South. After 
1857, the slaveholders made such excessive demands that 
even the Northern Democrats could no longer accept them ; 
the party split in twain, and the division of the country into 
two sections was complete. One of the most important 
steps in this repulsion of Northern party loyalty was the 
action of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. 

314. The Dred Scott Decision, 1857. — Dred Scott, as a 
slave, had been taken by his master to the free state of Illi- 
nois and to that region west of the Mississippi where slavery 
had been " forever forbidden" by the Missouri Compromise. 
Returning with his master to Missouri, he sued for his 
liberty on the ground that residence in the free North had 
made him free. The case finally came before the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The technical question before 
that tribunal was whether the federal courts had jurisdiction 
in the matter. The court, Justices McLean and Curtis dis- 
senting, decided that they had no jurisdiction. This decision 
was based on the ground that neither a slave nor the de- 
scendant of a slave could be a citizen of the United States 
within the meaning of the Constitution and hence enjoy the 
right to appear as a party to a suit in a federal court. The 
Chief Justice, Roger B. Taney, then proceeded to outstep the 
proper function of the court and to setde the question of 
slavery in the territories — which was not before it at all. 
He said that slaves were property within the meaning of the 
Constitution ; that property was guaranteed protection by 
the Constitution ; that Congress could not legislate against 



^ 



1858] Lincoln and Douglas 417 

property, and that, therefore, the Missouri Compromise was 

mill and void, inasmuch as it prohibited the carrying of 

property into a certain part of the Union. Into the legal 

aspects of the case it is not necessary to enter here. The 

people of the North understood the court to say that under 

no circumstances whatever could Congress effect a lawful 

compromise on the question of slavery in the territories ; 

they generally refused to regard the opinion of the Supreme ,^^ 

Court as expressing the true interpretation of the Constitu- J) 1 

tion ; it remained to be seen what attitude the Northern / 

Democratic leaders would take. / 

315. Lincoln and Douglas, 1858. — In 1858 Senator Lincoi;i and 

Douglas sought a re-election to the Senate of the United Douglas, 

= * 1858. 

States ; Abraham Lincoln stepped forward to contest the schouler's 

seat, and the campaign which followed was one of the most- f^i'fed 

important in the history of the United States. In his first ^^ "' ' 

address, Lincoln startled his hearers and dismayed his party 

leaders by the outspoken frankness of his language : "Agi- Lincoln-'s 

tation [against slavery] has not only not ceased but -has '''^°?^!.. 

constantly augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until speech, 1858. 

a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house Rhodes's 

divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this govern- ^^"^^^ ^^ 

ment cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. 314; 

I do not expect the house to fall, but I expect it will cease Coniempo- 

to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. ^^^ ^^ 

Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread 

of it ... or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall 

become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, — 

North as well as South." Lincoln and Douglas held a series 

of joint debates, in the course of which Lincoln compelled 

Douglas to defend the doctrine of "popular sovereignty," 

and to assert that a territorial legislature could enact laws 

hostile to slavery and thus completely nullify the Dred Scott Douglas's 

decision. The Democrats won the state election and the j^J^^f°^^- 

state legislature returned Douglas to the Senate; but the Johnston's 

admissions that Lincoln had wrung from Douglas -made ^[^^'i^^'- 

the latter's candidature for the presidency distasteful to the 



4i8 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§316 



Seward's 
" irrepres- 
sible con- 
flict "speech, 
1858. 
Rhodes's 
United- 
States, II, 

344; 

Johnston's 
Orations, 
195-207 ; 
Contempo- 
raries, IV, 
No. 45. 



John 
Brown's 
raid, 1859. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 

437-441 ; 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, II, 
383; Contem- 
poraries, IV, 
No. 48. 



slaveholders, while Lincoln by his plain speaking had at one 
stroke won a foremost place in the Republican party. His 
" house divided " speech, which had dismayed his friends at 
the time, proved to have been one of the wisest actions of 
one of the wisest of men. 

In the same year Seward made a speech which probably 
had more influence in forming Northern opinion than any 
other speech made before the war. He said, in speaking 
of the struggle between slavery and freedom, " it is an irre- 
pressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, 
and it means that the United States must and will, sooner 
or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation or 
entirely a free-labor nation." The slaveholders were deter- 
mined that it should become the former. They demanded 
that the opinion of the judges in the Dred Scott decision 
should be respected and, going even farther, peremptorily 
required that Congress should pass laws for the protection 
of slaves as property in their territories. While matters 
were in this state of great tension, John Brown appeared 
at Harper's Ferry to attempt the freedom of slaves. 

316. John Brown's Execution, 1859. — Born in Connecti- 
cut, John Brown had emigrated to Kansas at the beginning 
of the conflict between the forces of freedom and slavery in 
that territory. Self-willed and quick to resent wrong, he had 
engaged, in several affairs in Kansas which met with strong 
disapprobation on the part of those foremost in the struggle 
against the extension of slavery. He now formed a scheme 
to free the slaves in the South. He asserted that "twenty 
men in the Alleghanies could break slavery in pieces in two 
years " — precisely how is not clear. It is clear, however, that 
it was his intention to free the slaves, not to excite a slave 
insurrection — although it is difficult to understand how the 
former could be accomplished without bringing on the latter; 
it is also clear that his project met with strong disapproval 
from many persons to whom he applied for money. On the 
i6th of October, 1859, he suddenly appeared at Harper's 
Ferry^, Virginia, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shen- 



1859] 



John Browri's Execution 



419 



andoah rivers, with nineteen followers. He seized the 

United States arsenal at that place, but allowed a train to 

pass on its way to Washington. He was captured with all His execu- 

but two of his followers, indicted, tried, convicted, and exe- *'°"; , 

' ' ' . ' Stedmanand 

cuted on a charge of treason and conspiracy with slaves and Hutchinson, 

VI. 34- 




John Brown 

others to rebel and murder. It is interesting to note how 
differently Brown's raid and execution appeared to different 
persons. For example, Emerson wished that we might Contem- 
"have health enough ... not to cry 'madman' when a ^"^'^^ 
hero passes," and Longfellow wrote in his journal, " This will 
be a great day in our history ; the date of a new revolution 



420 



Slavery in the Territories 



[§317 



Helper's 

Impending 

Crisis. 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, II, 

419; Sted- 

man and 

Hutchinson, 

Vni,4ii. 



quite as much needed as the old one." To the pohticians 
it assumed quite another phase, and the RepubHcan conven- 
tion held in May, i860, denounced it as " among the gravest 
of crimes." In 1881 Edward Atkinson stated to a Southern 
audience that he expected to see the day when Confederate 
soldiers or their children will erect a monument to John 
Brown " in token of the liberty which he brought to the 
white men of the South." There were not wanting Southern 
men, even at that time, who could discern the evils slavery 
had wrought for them. 

317. Helper's Impending Crisis, 1857. — One of these 
keen-sighted men was Hinton Rowan Helper, a " poor 
white " of North Carolina. In a book entitled The Impend- 
ing Crisis of the Soutli he attacked slavery in the interests 
of the non-slaveholding Southern whites. Abolition, he 
argued, would improve the material position of the South. 
He drew an interesting picture of the rise of thriving manu- 
facturing villages in that section, where the farmers would 
find a market for their produce ; schools also would be 
established, and the poorer children educated as they were 
in the North. As it was, the case of the South was desperate, 
and nothing except abolition could save her. The book at- 
tracted little attention at first, but in 1859 it suddenly 
increased in circulation. Nothing, not even John Brown's 
raid, did more to arouse the fears of the slaveholding oli- 
garchy. Seven out of every ten voters in the South were 
non-slaveholding whites. Had they been able to read and 
understand the arguments set forth in this book, slavery 
would have been doomed to destruction. When a Southern 
white could assume such a position, it behooved the leaders 
of the slave power to take immediate action. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 421 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 298-301. Texas, Mexico, and Oregon 

a. Show how the Southern voters enjoyed undue power. 

d. Had you been opposed to the extension of slave territory, how 
would you have voted in 1844? Give your reasons. 

r. What did the word "Oregon" signify in 1845, '^47> i860? 
Which country, the United States or Great Britain, had the best claim 
to Oregon in 1S46? Why? 

§ 302. The Walker Tariff 

a. Look up the Walker Tariff (Lalor's Cycloptedia), and compare it 
with the present tariff, especially as to taxes on raw materials, on textiles, 
and on luxuries. 

b. To what causes do you attribute the prosperity of the country in 
the years 1846- 157? Give your reasons in full. 

c. Show how farming on a large scale was immeasurably promoted 
by the invention of the McCormick reaper. 

§§ 303-308- The Compromise of 1850 

a. Was compromise any more necessary in 1850 than at the time of 
the Whiskey Rebellion or of the Nullification Episode? 

b. Precisely what would have been the effect of the Wilmot Proviso 
had it been passed? 

c. How would you have voted in 1848, and why? If you had been 
a New York Democrat, how would you have voted ? 

d. State at length Taylor's and Clay's policy as to slavery extension 
in 1849-50. 

e. Read Webster's " Seventh of March Speech," and explain why 
it aroused feeling against him in the North. 

§ 308. Fugitive Slaves 

a. Explain fully why the Fugitive Slave Law was a blunder on the 
part of the Southerners. 

b. Look up the writ ol habeas corpus, or get some lawyer to explain 
it to you. Quote the clause in the Constitution touching it. Why 
could it be denied to the fugitive slave and not to the rescuer? 

§§ 309-314. Elections of 1852 and 1856 
a. Read Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and explain why it was a 
potent factor in causing the Civil War. 



42 2 Slavery in the Territories 

b. Trace the genesis of the Republican party from the parties of 
Jackson's time. Is the present Democratic party any more the descend- 
ant of Jefferson's Republican party than is the present Republican 
party? Give your reasons. 

c. For what candidate would you have voted in 1852? In 1856? 
Give your reasons. 

§§ 310-316. The Contest over Kansas 

a. Why was the Kansas-Nebraska Act the most momentous measure 
that ever passed the Congress of the United States? 

b. Read a detailed account of the conflict in Kansas, and state which 
party acted in the more unlawful manner. Give your reasons. 

c. Squatter or Popular Sovereignty: define. Explain the force of 
Senator Benton's assertion in § 312. 

d. Discuss the Kansas-Nebraska Act as to constitutionality, expedi- 
ency, immediate and remote effects on the North, on the South, on the 
Union. 

e. State the principal points of the Dred Scott opinion. State 
Douglas's " Freeport Doctrine." Can you reconcile them? 

f. Why did Lincoln believe that the Union could not endure "half 
slave and half free " ? Why was the conflict " irrepressible " ? 

General Questions 

a. Make continuous recitations from note-book upon (i) Limited 
Power of Congress, (2) Fugitive Slave Laws, (3) Nullifying Ordinances, 
(4) Mason and Dixon's line, (5) Important Treaties, (6) Secession. 

b. Subjects for reports based on secondary authorities: (i) the 
careers, or portions of them, of Generals Scott and Taylor, Senators 
Seward, Chase, Sumner, and Douglas, Mrs. Stowe; (2) the Fugitive 
Slave cases, or one of them; (3) the Federal judiciary, 1829-61; 
(4) the weak Presidents and results of their weakness. 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

a. Tabulate the electoral votes of 1844, 1848, 1852, and 1856. 
Arrange the table to show votes by sections; the North, the South, the 
East, the Northwest (Stanwood's History of the Presidency'). 

b. Summarize the argument of (i) Clay, (2) Calhoun, (3) Webster, 
(4) Seward, (5) Chase, (6) Douglas, and (7) Lincoln (Johnston's 
Orations as cited in this chapter). 

c. Summarize the arguments of the " Independent Democrats." 



CHAPTER XII 

SECESSION, 1 860- 1 86 1 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston's American Politics, 189-196; Wil- 
son's Division and Reunion, zo^-zxd; Morse's Abraham Lincoln ; 
Goldwin Smith's United States. 

Special Accounts. — * Rhodes's United States, III, ch. xii (condition 
of the country in i860); Greeley's American Conflict; * Von Hoist's 
Constitutional History ; Schouler's United States ; Chadvvick's CdUses 
of the Civil IVar ; * Draper's Civil War; Ropes's Story of the Civil 
lVar,\; * Stephens's IVar between the States ; Blaine's Twenty Years; 

* Pollard's Lost Cause ; * Taussig's Tariff History, Lives of leading 
statesmen. Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets; Williams's Statesman'' s 
Manual; ^o\\.ws,\.ovC% American Orations; VlcVhexsovi?, History of the 
Rebellion: Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Liter- 
ature. Writings of the leading statesmen, Cz^zVi?, §§ 46, 47. 

Maps.— Hart's Epoch ALaps, Nos. 8, 13. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 229-233. 

Illustrative Material. — * Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln ; 

* BnchansLTi^s Bucha/ian^s Administration : Garrisons' Garrison: Dab- 
ney's Defence of Virginia : Sherman's Memoirs; Olmsted's Cotton 
Kingdom: A. 1-,. 'LoweWs Political Essays: Wise's Seven Decades; 
Coleman's Crittenden ; Bett's Joseph Henry ; Holmes's Emerson ; 
Helper's Lmpending Crisis ; * Davis's Confederate States. Gayarre's 
"Sugar Plantation" {Lfarper's Magazine, May, 1887); Smede's 
Memorials of a Southern Planter; Page's The Old South; Trent's 

IV, G. Simms. 

SECESSION, 1860-1861 

318. Introductory. — The year i860 saw the breaking Southern 
down of the policy of compromise which had distinguished pohcy, 186a 
the poUtical history of the country since the beginning of the 
Revolutionary War. This change was brought about by a 

423 



424 



Secession 



[§319 



complete alteration in the political attitude of the leaders 
who guided the fortunes of the South. In their opinion, the 
time had come to push their demands — or their rights, as 
they regarded them. It would no longer do for the Union 
merely to tolerate slavery : the federal government must 
actively undertake the extension and protection of it ; the 
Northerners must change their sentiments and declare it to 
be right. Failing this complete surrender on the part of the 
North, the Southern leaders were determined to break up 
the Union and to establish a slave republic in the South'. 
Probably they expected little resistance from the people of 
the North ; they certainly had no fears as to the outcome 
of civil war, should it take place. They were laboring under 
some of the most curious delusions which the student of 
history meets in the whole course of his work. To com- 
prehend the history of the next six years, it is necessary to 
understand the material conditions of the country as a whole, 
and those of the two sections respectively. 

319. Population, i860. — The population had increased 
from slightly under thirteen milHons in 1830 to over thirty- 
one millions in i860. The increase had been especially 
rapid since 1850, when the population numbered twenty- 
three millions. A large part of this growth was due directly 
to immigration, which had gathered in volume every decade. 
The total immigration of these thirty years amounted to 
nearly five millions (4,902,000). Of these newcomers about 
six hundred thousand came in the ten years 1831-40, more 
than seventeen hundred thousand in 1841-50, and over two 
and one half millions in 1851-60; the, largest number in 
any one year before the Civil War was four hundred and 
Immigration, twenty-cight thousand in 1854. This ever-widening stream 
of immigration was owing largely to causes over which the 
United States had no control. 

The period extending from 1830 to i860 was a time of 
unparalleled distress and disorder in Europe : on the con- 
tinent revolution succeeded revolution, while a terrible 
famine swept off a large portion of the people of Ireland 



Numbers 
i860. 



^o-6o. 



i86o] Population 425 

and made it difficult for the survivers longer to live in the 
old home of their race. From all parts of northern and 
western Europe immigrants poured into the United States. 
Great material prosperity and unusual personal liberty drew 
them to the states of the federal union in preference to 
Canada or Mexico or to the Australian or African colonies 
of England. These immigrants brought little with them ; 
unskilled labor was their stock in trade ; but this was what 
America needed. These strong men built the cities and 
railroads of the North, and added thousands of acres to 
the fields of corn and wheat in the West. Politically, their 
coming was of the greatest importance : in the crowded cities 
they often interfered sadly with the cause of good government, 
mainly through ignorance ; but as far as national politics was 
concerned, their presence was a positive good. For years 
the United States — the great republic beyond the sea — 
had been to them as a star of hope in the western sky : they 
knew nothing of the states, individually, and for them states' 
rights had no charm ; the United States was their adopted 
home, and when the time came to show their devotion, they 
responded most heroically. Nor was this matter one of small 
moment: in i860 the foreign-born residents formed over 
thirteen per cent of the total population of the country. 
Unskilled white labor played little part in the development 
of the South ; the immigrants settled almost entirely in the 
North, and formed nearly one quarter of the population of 
that section. In many parts of the West they were the 
majority of the inhabitants. 

320. Distribution of the Population, Area, etc. — Since Analysis of 
1830, one million square miles had been added to the na- P'^puiation. 
tional domain. This addition included Texas, Oregon, and 
the territory acquired from Mexico in 1848 and in 1853, 
when forty-five thousand square miles were purchased 
from Mexico — known as the Gadsden Purchase, from the 
name of the negotiator on the part of the United States Area, 
(map, § 303). The total area of the United States was 
now over three million square miles, in comparison with two 



426 



Secession 



[§ 320 



Center of 

population, 

i860. 



millions in 1830 and less than eight hundred and fifty 
thousand in 1783. The settled area had increased even 
more rapidly — from six hundred and thirty thousand 
square miles ir^ 1830 to nearly twelve hundred thousand 
square miles (1,194,754) in i860. 

The center of population moved westward with ever- 
increasing rapidity — one hundred and ninety-one miles 




Density of population, 1860 

in the years 1830-60, in comparison with one hundred 
and twenty-five miles in the preceding thirty years (map, 
§ 213). The western progress of this artificial point, during 
the last decade (1850-60) was owing to the rapid settle- 
ment of California and Oregon, and shows how mislead- 
ing and inaccurate it is as denoting density of population 
or national growth : in 1850 twelve persons at San Fran- 
cisco had as much weight in determining this artificial 
point as forty at New York. Nevertheless, until 1850, 
and after 1870, the movement of the center of population 



j:86o] Population 427 

indicates in a rough way the growth of the population of the 
several sections. Since 1830 nine states had been added 
to the Union, and another, Kansas, was demanding admis- 
sion : of those admitted, Arkansas (1836), Florida (1845), 
and Texas (1846) were slave states; the other six were free 
states: Michigan (1837), Iowa (1846), Wisconsin (1848), 
California (1850), Minnesota (1858), and Oregon (1859). 
It should be noted that the admission of California gave 
the free states a majority in the Senate, which was further 
increased by the admission of Minnesota and Oregon. 

321. Slave and Free Sections Compared- — The area of influence of 
the United States open to slavery was vastly larger than that slavery, 
preserved to freedom. Much of the former jvas still unoc- 
cupied, but the settled area given over to slavery was greater 
than that devoted to freedom. The settled slave region was 
as fertile as any part of the United States. It contained 
enormous stores of coal and iron and possessed vast water 
powers, great forests, and a climate in every way suited 
to all kinds of human occupations. Yet, with these great 
natural advantages, the slave states contained only twelve 
million of the thirty-one million inhabitants of the United 
States. Moreover, as slaves formed fully one third of the 
population of the Southern states, the white population of 
the slave and free states was in the proportion of eight to 
twenty. The effect of slavery in limiting population will 
become apparent by a study of the accompanying map, 
showing the density of population by states. It will be 
seen, for instance, that only two slave states, Maryland and 
Delaware, contained over forty-five inhabitants to the square 
mile, and five states fewer than eighteen to the square mile. 
On the other hand, four free states contained over ninety 
persons to the square mile and three large free states, New 
York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, between forty-five and 
ninety. Indeed, two Northern cities alone contained more 
people than the state of South Carolina or of Texas, while 
one Northern city held more free whites than any slave 
state. 



428 



Secession 



[§ 321 



Northern 
cities. 



Southern 
cities. 



The growth of Northern cities had been wonderful. The 
urban population of the country, as a whole, had increased 
from eight hundred and sixty-four thousand in 1830 to over 
five millions in i860. In 1830 less than seven per cent of 
the population had been gathered into cities; in i860 more 
than sixteen per cent was classed as urban. The opening 
of the commercial route from the Great Lakes to the sea- 
board by the Erie canal and the Hudson River had con- 
tributed greatly to the increase of the population of the 
two cities at the ends of the line. New York and Chicago. 
In 1830 the population of New York numbered less than 
two hundred thousand; by i860 it had increased fourfold, 
and now numbered eight hundred and seven thousand. 
Chicago in 1833 had thirty- three names on the voting list; 
in i860 more than one hundred thousand persons lived 
within its limits. 

There were many other large cities of from one hundred 
thousand to five hundred thousand inhabitants, — Philadel- 
phia, Brooklyn, Boston, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Newark. 
There were only three cities south of Mason and Dixon's line 
with over one hundred thousand inhabitants, — Baltimore, 
New Orleans, and St. Louis. Of these, New Orleans alone 
was situated within the limits of the states which seceded. 
In the North, also, there were very many manufacturing 
towns, growing rapidly and increasing in number. In the 
South there were no manufacturing towns and almost no 
commerce. Of the one hundred and seven cotton mills in 
operation, only eight were in the South ; of the thirty thou- 
sand miles of railroad, but ten thous.'nd were in the South. 
To all intents and purposes, the slave states were socially, 
economically, and commercially where they were in 18 10. 
" Alone in all the world she [the South] stood, unmoved by 
the ' whirl and rush ' of modern civilization," said one 
Southern man. " From the rattle with which the nurse 
tickled the ear of the child to the shroud for the dead," said 
another, " everything that the Southerners used came from 
the North." 



i86o] 



Transportation 



429 



Railway 
building, 
1830-60. 



322. Transportation. — -The first period of railway build- 
ing ended in 1849 i there were then between six and seven 
thousand miles of railways in the country. Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois were still open fields. Between 1849 and 1858 
there was great activity in railway construction : more than 
twenty-one thousand miles were built in those years. There 
was then a slackening, owing to the panic of 1857, but by 
the outbreak of the Civil War there were thirty thousand 
miles in operation. The maps of the northeastern states 
had begun to take on that gridironed appearance which is 
so familiar to the map reader of the present time. At the 
same time that the railway system was being extended 
existing lines were connected and worked in harmony. In 
1850 one could not go by rail from New York to either 
Boston or Albany, as the journey was broken in places by 
water transport ; in i860 one continuous line of rails stretched 
from New York to the Mississippi. 

The great extension of the railway lines in the newer The land 
states west of the Alleghanies was due largely to the stimulus grants. 
which came from congressional grants of lands to the rail- 
roads in that section. This process was begun in 1850 by a 
grant in aid of the Illinois Central. Congress gave to the 
state of Illinois every alternate section of the public lands 
on either side of the proposed railroad, and the state, on its 
part, turned over the land grants to the railroad company in 
consideration of a cash payment and a percentage of the 
gross receipts of the road when built. This policy was 
repeated in the case of other roads, and no less than one 
hundred and eighty million acres of the public lands were 
given in aid of the building of railroads, especially in the 
" Old Northwest," but the privilege was sometimes abused 
by dishonest and greedy railroad promoters. 

During the same period water transport, both domestic .steamboats, 
and foreign, greatly increased. There was often the most 
criminal recklessness in the management of steamboats, 
especially on the interior waterways. In 1852, on the motion 
of Senator John Davis of Massachusetts, Congress passed an 



430 



Secession 



[§ 323 



The 

mercantile 

marine. 



Cause of 

prosperity, 

1840-60. 



excellent act for the regulation of steam traffic on the wateri 
This law, with some changes suggested by later experience, 
is still in force. 

American maritime industry was at its highest point in 
the decade before the war. In 1861 the tonnage of the 
United States exceeded that of any other nation : no less 
than five and one half million tons of shipping was regis- 
tered under the American flag, in comparison with four and 
one half millions on the British shipping list. In i860 three 
quarters of the exports of the United States were carried in 
American vessels. 

323. Material Prosperity. — Mr. Rhodes, in his interest- 
ing chapter on the condition of the country in i860, asserts 
"no one can doubt that from 1846 to 1857 the country was 
very prosperous." This prosperity was the result of a for- 
tunate combination of many causes, among which may be 
mentioned the rapid settlement of the national domain, the 
great extension of lines of railroad, and the large increase of 
foreign commerce, especially with Great Britain. The first 
two of these have been described in preceding sections ; it 
will be well to consider the last more in detail. The im- 
ports and exports of the United States had trebled in value 
since 1830. The increase in imports was due in part to the 
great demand for manufactured iron in the construction of 
railroads, and to the increased use of other foreign manu- 
factures, owing to the low rates of impost under the Walker 
Tariff. In part, also, it was due to the importation of raw 
materials for the use of American manufacturers. The 
growth of exports was owing largely to the repeal of the 
British corn laws, and the establishment of free trade which 
took place at the same time. The repeal of the corn laws 
permitted the importation of cheap food stuffs into England. 
It greatly diminished the cost of living there, especially 
among the workers, and made it possible for them to accept 
lower wages. The abolition of duties on the raw material 
of manufacture, and the low cost of labor, enabled Eng- 
lish manufacturers to gain control of the markets of the 



i86o] Prosperity 431 

world. British manufacturing industries were greatly stimu- 
lated, and the demand for raw materials kept pace with thf 
increase in manufacturing. The cheap food stuffs and t'.ie 
most important raw materials were provided by the United 
States : in i860 one hundred and seventy-three million 
bushels of wheat were grown, of which twenty-five thousand 
ivvere raised west of the Mississippi, and the corn crop of 
'that year amounted to over eight hundred milhon bushels. 
iThe demand for cotton by British and Northern spinners 
Ihad stimulated the cultivation of that plant ; the South pro- 
duced about seven eighths of all the cotton grown in the 
N/orld; the crop of 1859 amounted to four million six hun- 
dred thousand bales, the largest crop grown before the war. 
The demand for cotton was constantly 'outstripping the 
supply; in i860 the consumption exceeded even the large 
crop of that year ; Northern manufacturers used one and 
one half million bales, and four and one half millions more 
were exported, mainly to Great Britain. 

The epoch under review also witnessed a great increase in Manufactur- 
manufacturin^ enterprises in the United States, which is the '"S '""^us- 
more notable in view of the fact that these were the years 
when the duties on imported goods were lower than at any 
time since 1824. Furthermore, the period of greatest 
expansion was in the decadei 1850 to i860, when the duties 
were at the lowest. A iew figures will serve to show the 
extent and character of this growth ; the capital employed 
in manufacturing had increased nearly fourfold, the number 
of hands employed had more than doubled, and the value 
of the manufactured product had grown from one thousand 
millions in 1850 to over four thousand millions in i860. In 
this great industrial activity the South had little part : Vir- 
ginia produced fifty and one half million dollars' worth of 
manufactured commodities ; no other Southern state pro- 
duced as much. New England still led in cotton manufac- 
turing; in i860 there were five million spindles in operation 
in the United States, of which over four million were in the 
New England states. The iron industry had also thriven. 



tries. 



432 



Secession 



[§ 324 



Inventions. 



The Panic 
of 1857. 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
38-55. 



and the mines of coal, iron, copper, and gold were beginning 
to yield their wonderful stores ; but the period of expansion 
of the iron and coal, industries belongs to the thirty years 
following the outbreak of the Civil War, and will be de- 
scribed in a succeeding chapter. 

It has already been noted how unfruitful the American 
mind was before 1800. By 1830 its genius had begun to 
unfold itself, and the thirty years between Jackaon's and 
Lincoln's inaugurations were marked by great and wonderful 
inventions. The electric telegraph and the reaper have 
been already mentioned (§ 302). The first locomotives 
built in the United States were framed on English models, 
and the coaches were like those still in use in England. 
Soon, however, Aew types were developed, better suited to 
American roads and to the needs of American travelers. 
The breech-loading rifle, the harvester, and the sewing ma- 
chine all belong to the decade immediately preceding i860. 
The year 1852 saw the electric fire-alarm system in success- 
ful operation, and in 1853 the first practicable steam fire 
engine made its appearance. In 1858 an electric cable was 
laid under the Atlantic Ocean ; it stopped working, how- 
ever, almost immediately, and the first successful cable was 
opened to business in 1866. By i860 the growth of large 
fortunes had begun : this growth was coeval with the railroad 
and the telegraph, and at the same time poverty had become 
more marked. This was largely due to the poorer quality 
of many of the immigrants who came over in these years. 

324. Financial Policy, 1857-1861. — It seems to be un- 
fortunately true that commercial successes are always fol- 
lowed by periods of great depression. The outburst of 
activity of Jackson's " reign " was followed by the panic 
of 1837. Similar causes — too much speculation, too rapid 
railroad building, too great locking up of capital in mills and 
factories — brought on a stringency in the money market, 
which in turn led to a financial crash in 1857. From this 
the country had scarcely recovered when the Civil War broke 
out. Many persons, instead of attributing the financial 



i86o] 



Financial Policy 



433 



stringency to its true cause, — the great expansion of com- 
mercial credit, — believed it to be the result of the govern- 
ment's collecting more revenue than it expended. Congress, 
therefore, modified the Walker Tariff by reducing duties to 
a lower point than they had reached since the enactment 
of the tariff of 1816. This was done in 1857, and for three 
years thereafter the people lived under a lower tariff than 
they had done since the War of 18 12. The period of de- 
pression following the panic of 1857 caused the revenues to 
fall off, and in 1861 Congress again took the tariff in hand. 
A bill was introduced by Senator Morrill of Vermont, and 
passed before the close of Buchanan's term (1861). It 
changed the at/ tmlorem duties of the Walker Tariff to spe- 
cific duties, and generally increased the rates, especially on 
iron, and, in addition, laid a tax on wool imported. In i860 
the income of the general government was fifty-five million 
dollars, and its expenditures ten million more ; the national 
debt at that time was less than sixty-five million dollars. It 
will be interesting to remember these figures when we come 
to consider the financial position of the government during 
the war, and, later, in the great period of material develop- 
ment which followed its close. 

325. Mental Activity. — The increasing fertility in inven- 
tion came at a time when the people began to change their 
ideas as to learning and the cultivation of the intellect. 
Popular lecturers, as Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, 
and John B. Gough, traveled about the country instructing 
and stimulating thousands of minds through the medium 
of the " lyceum " system of lectures. Emerson, also, was 
listened to from the platform, and read with eagerness. 
Prescott, Bancroft, and Motley were doing their best work, 
and Francis Parkman had begun his study of " the warfare 
of the forest," which has since borne such splendid fruit. 
George Ticknor was bringing the literature of Spain to the 
notice of his countrymen ; Longfellow, Whittier, Lowell, 
Holmes, and Bryant were all writing. Bryant also edited a 
newspaper, and Horace Greeley had founded the New York 



Tariff of 

1857. 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
41-56. 



Morrill 
Tariff, 1861. 
Rhodes's 
United 
Stutes, III, 
57-59- 



Mental 
activity. 






^ta^Siui^«iffff^^ 





-^^-/"■u.. 



^fc:::,^zsrj^'.-.^^ 



American historians 
434 



i86o] 



Election of i860 



435 



Tribune, which for a long time exercised a remarkable 
influence upon the public mind. George William Curtis had 
begun his career as an essayist, and Hawthorne and Mrs. 
Stowe were at work creating an American literature of 
fiction. 

With this mental awakening had come a distinct improve- 
ment in private morals, and a remarkable diminution in 
habits of drunkenness among the people of the North. On 
the other hand, physical exercise for the purpose of build- 
ing up the body does not appear to have been at all appre- 
ciated, and the bodily health of the Northern people was 
never at a lower ebb than in i860. In the South, life was 
freer, and there was more outdoor exercise; but the food 
of the Southern people was even more unwholesome than 
was that of the Northerners. Moreover, apart from politics, 
there was a complete mental stagnation at the South. 

326. Election of i860. — Up to this time the Democratic 
party had remained united — at least outwardly. Now, 
however, the demands put forth by the slave power were 
more than Northern Democrats could endure. The Demo- 
cratic National Convention met at Charleston, South Caro- 
lina, in April, i860. The Northern Democrats, with Douglas 
for their candidate, were willing to accept the Dred Scott 
opinion, and any decision which the Supreme Court might 
make as to slavery. The Southerners demanded that the con- 
vention should lay down as one of the principles of the party 
that Congress should assume the protection of slavery in 
the territories ; they also declared that the Northerners must 
advocate slavery and acknowledge that slavery was morally 
right — nothing else would satisfy the South. The Northern 
delegates were in the majority ; they adopted the Douglas 
platform and the Southern men withdrew. The convention 
then adjourned to Baltimore in the hope that time would 
bring about a reconciliation. In the end, the Northern 
Democrats nominated Douglas, and the Southern Demo- 
crats Breckinridge. 

The moderate men of all parties and the remnants 



Election of 
i860. 

Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
454-469 ; 
Stanwood's 
Presidency. 



Split in the 

Democratic 

party. 

Rhodes 's 

United 

States, II, 

440. 





'Jf3uiy>«'CUijM/(iy>**l=^ 



J\jWa^ (>'*>j'ifi^ 




c^iii-^^^^aD 





/■-' 




:-" ') 




•4>' 


1— 


'^k^^ 



^^^^^ ^^anj:e/^t^^l>kd. 




American poets 
For portrait of Longfellow see p. 414. 
436 



i86o] 



Election of i860 



437 



of the Know-nothings held a convention, and nominated 
Governor John Bell of Tennessee for President, as the candi- 
date of what they termed the ConstitutionalUnion party. 

The Republicans held their convention at Chicago in 
May, i860, and adopted a studiously moderate platform. 
They denied any intention to interfere with slavery in the 
states, which in their opinion was a matter for the voters of 



Consti- 
tutional 
Union party, 




Election of 1860 

each state to settle for themselves whenever and as often as 
they pleased. They demanded, however, that Congress 
should prohibit slavery in the territories — for them the 
Dred Scott decision had no validity. They also declared in 
favor of the protective system and internal improvements 
at the charge of the general government. Nomination 

The selection of a candidate for the presidency proved to of Lincoln, 
be difficult. Seward and Chase were the most prominent ^^^^^^^ 
leaders in the party ; but they had been "too conspicuous," sfafes. ll, 
and Seward was regarded as a visionary. Lincoln was com- 456. 



438 



Secession 



[§326 



paratively unknown ; he had few enemies, and was strong 
in the doubtful Western states which had been carried by the 
Democrats in 1856. His " availabihty," to use a modern 
political phrase, commended him to the delegates ; but his 
nomination was hastened by the transfer to him of the 
votes of fifty delegates who were pledged to Cameron 




Wendell Phillips 

of Pennsylvania. This transfer was made in consequence of 
a promise given by Lincoln's friends that Cameron should 
have a cabinet position ; it should, however, be said that 
this was in opposition to Lincoln's express direction. His 
nomination was received with some indignation by the abo- 
litionists. "Who is this huckster in politics?" demanded 
Wendell Phillips, who declared that Lincoln was " the slave- 
hound of Illinois." The Garrisons, in the biography of their 
father, have declared that " to the country at large he [Lin- 
coln] was an obscure, not to say an unknown man." It is 
certain that few persons then realized the grandeur of 



i86o] 



Election of i860 



439 



Lincoln's character, his splendid common sense, and his 
marvellous insight into the real nature of things. 

The dissensions in the Democratic party, in combination 
with the growing sentiment in the North against the further 
extension of slavery, resulted in the election of Lincoln by 
an overwhelming majority of electoral votes. He polled 
fewer votes in the country at large, however, than his 
rivals, and his plurality in several Northern states was very 
small. 

327. Secession Threatened, November, i860. — Alone of 
all the states, South Carolina adhered to the undemocratic 
practice of choosing presidential electors by vote of the legis- 
lature, instead of by popular vote, as in every other state. 
The South Carolina legislature assembled to perform this duty, 
chose electers pledged to Breckinridge, and remained in 
session until the result of the election was assured. When 
it became certain that Lincoln was elected, it passed meas- 
ures for the military defense of the state, and summoned a 
state convention to meet 011 December 17 (i860). To 
this latter action, it was urged by the governor, who had 
ascertained that other Southern states would probably co- 
operate with South Carolina in whatever stepsit was deemed 
advisable to take. 

The legislature of Georgia assembled on November 8. 
In that state there was a good deal of opposition to the 
plans of the Southern leaders. Alexander H. Stephens, one 
of the foremost men in the South and long one of Georgia's 
representatives in the Federal Congress, made a strong 
speech in opposition, from which a few sentences are here 
given: "The election of no man, constitutionally chosen to 
the presidency, is sufficient cause for any state to separate 
from the Union. Let the fanatics of the North break the 
Constitution ... let not the South, let not us, be the ones 
to commit the aggression." Nevertheless the Georgia legis- 
lature followed South Carolina's example and summoned a 
state convention, as did the legislatures of several other 
Southern states. 



Election of 

Lincoln, 

i860. 



Threats of 
secession. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 

469; 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
"5- 



Contempo- 
raries, IV, 
No. 53. 



440 



Secession 



[§328 



Buchanan's 

message, 

i860. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

471; 

Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 

125- 



328. Compromise Suggestions — Congress met on Decem- 
ber 8, i860, and listened to the reading of Buchanan's last 
message. The President appeared to think that the move- 
ments in the South looking towards secession were partly 
justified by the antislavery agitation in the North — appar- 
ently there was something sacred in slavery which placed 
it on a different ground from a rotten civil service or a 
protective tariff. The " personal liberty laws " were also 

mentioned as justifying 
the attitude of the South. 
Buchanan did not be- 
lieve with the Southern 
Democrats that seces- 
sion was a legal right ; 
on the contrary, he 
deemed it illegal. He 
thought, however, that 
there was no constitu- 
tional means whereby 
the secession of a state 
could be prevented. A 
state could not be 
coerced. It does not 
seem to have occurred 
to Buchanan that the 
Constitution had been 
expressly constructed to 
afford the general government the power to coerce individual 
men who interrupted the due execution of the federal laws. 
Later on, under the stress of war, the Northern Democrats 
invented a convenient doctrine that a Northern "sovereign 
state," as Pennsylvania, might wage war on a Southern " sov- 
ereign state," as South Carolina, through the agency of the 
general government. In his message, the President also 
suggested the adoption of amendments to the Constitution 
securing slavery in the states where it existed and in the 
territories, and compelling the release of fugitive slaves. 




James Buchanan 



iS6o] 



Secession of Seven States 



441 



Buchanan was a Northern man, a Pennsylvanian ; but he had 
been long under the influence of Southern leaders and seems 
at this time to have fallen in completely with their schemes. 

329. The Crittenden Compromise. — Another and more 
promising attempt to arrange matters was proposed by 
Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. He suggested 
that amendments to the Constitution should be adopted : 
(i) to secure the fulfillment of the Missouri Compromise ; 
(2) to provide that states should be slave or free as their 
constitutions should dictate ; and (3) to make it the duty 
of Congress to secure the return of fugitive slaves to their 
masters or pay the value of the fugitive to the claimant. 
Mr. Rhodes thinks that this scheme might have furnished 
the basis for a compromise, but other writers hardly agree 
with him. The plan was finally rejected on March 2, 1861, 
two days before Lincoln's inauguration. 

330. Secession of Seven States, 1860-1861. — On the day 
(December 17, i860) that Senator Crittenden brought for- 
ward this conciliatory proposition, the South Carolina con- 
vention met at Charleston. " Commissioners " and leading 
men from other Southern states were present to urge haste, 
but there was at least one memorial urging delay; it was 
suppressed. Three days later the convention adopted 
unanimously an " ordinance to dissolve the Union between 
the state of South Carolina and other states united with her 
under the compact entitled ' The Constitution of the United 
States of America.' " It also adopted a " Declaration of the 
immediate causes which induce and justify the secession of 
South Carolina from the Federal Union." Before March, 
186 1, six other states had joined her : Mississippi (January 9, 
1861), Florida (January 10), Alabama (January 11), Georgia 
(January 19), Louisiana (January 26), and Texas (February i). 

Nothing shows more clearly the stagnation of Southern 
constitutional life than the action of these conventions. 
They proceeded precisely on the lines of the conven- 
tions of the Revolutionary epoch. The democratic spirit 
of the nineteenth century, which had so profoundly influ- 



Crittenden 

Compromise 

scheme, 

i860. 

Schouler's 

United 

States, V, 

504; 

* Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
150; John- 
ston's Ora- 
tions, III, 
275-293- 



Secession of 
the cotton 
states, 
1860-61. 
Schouler's 
United 
States, V, 
488-492 ; 
Rhodes's 
U7tited 
States, III, 
196. 



442 



Secession 



f§ 33^ 



enced political action in the North, had not produced the 
least effect in the South. Only one of these ordinances of 
secession was submitted to the people for ratification, and 
that one (Texas) only because the election of delegates to 
her state convention had been so irregular that it could 
not well be avoided. The conventions which had been 
elected to consider this question exercised the power of the 
people of the states which had chosen them, and did many 




Confederate 
States' 

CoriStitution, 
1861. 



The United States, 1861 

things which probably the majority of the voters had no 
thought of authorizing. Spurred on by the political chiefs, 
the conventions elected delegates to a " constitutional con- 
vention," which met at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 
1 86 1. This convention adopted a provisional constitution 
for the "Confederate States of America," whose principal 
business was " to recognize and protect . . . the institution 
of slavery as it now exists in the Confederate States." 
The convention also chose Jefferson Davis provisional 



i86i1 



Cause of Secession 



443 



president and Alexander H. Stephens provisional vice- 
president of the Confederacy. Davis had no fear of war, but 
" if war must come, it must be on Northern and not on South- 
ern soil," he said ; " we will carry war where it is easy to 
advance, where food for the sword and torch awaits our 
armies in the densely populated cities." On his return to 
Savannah, Stephens addressed his state compatriots in lan- 
guage whose strange sound shows how completely the South 
was out of sympathy with modern civilization. The new 
government's " foundations are laid, its corner stone rests 
upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white 
man ; that slavery, subordination to the natural race, is his 
natural and normal condition. This oivr new government is 
the first in the history of the world based upon this great 
physical, philosophical, and moral truth." 

331. The Underlying Cause of Secession. — A student 
who knows nothing from personal experience of the passions 
and humors of that time finds it difficult to understand why 
Lincoln's election to the presidency should have impelled the 
Southerners to stake their prosperity and their institutions on 
the uncertain issue of civil war. Lincoln had gained a large 
majority in the electoral college, — one hundred and eighty 
votes to one hundred and twenty-three for the other three 
candidates combined. His opponents, however, had re- 
ceived nearly one million more votes than he had obtained. 
The Republicans would be in a minority in the new House 
of Representatives, and the Senate would be hostile to 
them. No possible immediate danger threatened South- 
ern institutions : the Republicans could not have legislated 
against slavery, had they so desired. It is extremely probable 
that, had the South remained in the Union, it would have 
taken years to bring about abolition. The levying of war 
by the seceded states, and the departure of their repre- 
sentatives and senators from Congress, changed the whole 
course of affairs, as will appear in a moment. 

The leaders of opinion in the South thought they saw in 
the aroused moral sentiment of the North immediate danger 



Jefferson 
Davis. 



A. H. 
Stephens. 
Stedman and 
Hutchinson, 
VII, 162; 
Johnston's 
Orations, IV, 
39-50. 

Measure 

of the 

Republican 

triumph. 

Johnston's 

Orations, 

111,211. 



444 



Secession 



[§332 



Fears of 
Southern 
leaders. 



Rhodes's 
United 
States, I, 345. 



Southern 
blunders. 



to Southern institutions. For years they had held the chief 
power in the national councils; in the future they would 
have to take the second place. It is also reasonably certain 
that they felt the sting of the moral reproach under which 
they were living, and they must have realized that in the 
nature of things slavery was doomed to extinction at some 
future time, though when and by what means it would be 
brought about, no one could say in i860. 

The mass of the Southern voters, who elected the seces- 
sion conventions and agreed to secession, had no thought 
of permanent separation from the Union when they cast 
their ballots. They expected to make better terms for 
themselves out of the Union than could be gained while 
members of it. Stephens says that it was this argument 
which brought about the defeat of the Southern moderates 
in i860. The step of secession once authorized, the further 
step of Southern confederation was taken without again ob- 
taining the sense of the voters. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that after the conflict was once begun, the Southerners 
were practically unanimous for its prosecution. No doubt 
it is true that only three voters in ten were slaveholders, 
and that only two million whites were supported directly by 
the forced labor of negroes, but the slaveholders were the 
leaders of public opinion. They were distinctly in a minor- 
ity, but the majority followed blindly whither they led. 

332. Southern Blunders. — The slaveholders were in a 
minority in the South, the Southerners were in a minority 
in the country as a whole, and the South — economically 
and numerically — was hopelessly inferior to the North. Not- 
withstanding this, the Southern chiefs seem never to have 
looked the facts squarely in the face and asked themselves 
what the cost of failure would be. Perhaps they never 
deemed failure possible : the Northerners had often yielded 
to their furious attacks ; why should they resist now ? 
Prudent leaders in these circumstances would have done 
nothing to increase the fighting strength of their opponents ; 
the Sputberners did their best to augment it. They formed 



i86i] Southern Blunders 445 

a new government and waged war on the Union. The 
withdrawal of their representatives and senators made the 
RepubHcans supreme in Congress and gave the President 
the support of the legislative branch. Their attack on 
the Union soldiers at once brought the President's "war 
powers " (§ 188) into operation, and aroused hostile senti- 
ment in the North as nothing else would have done. 

In time of peace the President's functions are limited ; 
in time of insurrection and civil war it is difficult to dis- 
cern a limit to his authority — except the approval of the The Presi- 
mass of the nation. He is obliged to see to it that " the dent's " wai 
laws are faithfully executed " ; he is the commander in chief 
of the land and naval forces of the United States, and there 
is no limit to his use of this power. In time of war, too, 
civil institutions give way to military authority. " So far 
from it being true," said ex-President Adams in 1842, "that 
the states where slavery exists have the exclusive manage- 
ment of the subject, not only the President of the United 
States, but the commander of the army has power to order 
the universal emancipation." Six years earlier Adams had 
distinctly warned the slave owners of their danger : " From 
the instant that your slaveholding states become the theater 
of war," he said, " from that instant the war powers of the 
Constitution extend to interference with the institution of 
slavery in every way." Until i860 the contest between 
slavery and freedom had been fought out in the halls of 
Congress, where the compromises of the Constitution pro- 
tected the slaveholders at every turn ; the conflict was now 
transferred to the field of battle, where the weaker com- 
batant would have no protection whatever. 

333. Apathy of the Northerners As soon as secession Apathy 

and confederation were accomplished, the Southerners set to ^f^^^^ 

' . Northerners. 

work to possess themselves of the federal property m the Morse's Lin- 
South : they seized arsenals and forts without resistance ; coin, 1. 190. 
the administration remained passive or only uttered mild 
and unheeded protests. In this Buchanan and his ad- 
visers but echoed the general feeUng in the North. " Let 



446 



Secession 



[^333 



Albany 
conference. 



The " War 
Governors." 
Andrew's 
Message of 
January, 
1861, is 
in 0/d South 
Leaflets, II, 
No. 8. 



the erring sisters depart in peace " was heard on every side. 
On February 23, 1861, Horace Greeley wrote in the New 
York Tribune that if the cotton states " choose to form an 
independent nation, they have a clear moral right so to do," 
and very many Republican journals agreed with him. Even 
as late as April 9 Wendell Phillips said from the lecture 
platform : the Southern states " think that their peculiar in- 
stitutions require that they should have a separate govern- 
ment. They have a right to decide that question without 
appealing to you or me. . . . Abraham Lincoln has no 
right to a soldier in Fort Sumter." For a long time Gen- 
eral Dix's famous telegram, " If any one attempts to haul 
down the American flag, shoot him on the spot," remained 
the only indication of a fighting spirit in leading circles of 
the government. 

While the tide of secession was at its height in the South, 
a convention met at Albany. It was composed of conserva- 
tive men of all shades of political opinion,' and was in the 
hands of those who believed coercion to be revolutionary. 
Later, in February, a peace conference was held at Wash- 
ington. It urged on Congress the adoption of the Critten- 
den Compromise or of some similar plan. The march of 
events was too rapid for compromise ; the Southerners re- 
lied too implicitly on their own enthusiasm and on the lack 
of spirit displayed by the men of the North. 

During this time of hesitation, the Republican current 
•was still running strongly in the North. In January, 186 1, 
many Republican governors were sworn into office — some 
of whom continued to occupy their positions during the con- 
flict, or the greater part of it; they are known familiarly as 
the " war governors." To them the country owes the greatest 
debt. Recognizing the gravity of the crisis, some of them 
energetically set to work to prepare their states for war. For 
example, Andrew and Buckingham ordered large quantities 
of arms and military equipments. When the decisive mo- 
ment came, they were able to send their state troops to the 
front within a day or two of the fall of Fort Sumter. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 447 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

As preparation for this chapter, trace the constitutional, economic, 
and social development of the nation by making continuous summary 
of portions of text underlined with identical colors ; make continuous 
recitations from note-book on Slavery, Particularism, and Nationalism ; 
review the Three Compromises of the Constitution, and trace the 
results of each from 1789 to 1861. 

§§ 319-326. The United States in i860 

a. Trace the history of the policy of compromise which had 
marked the political history of the country since 1775. What was 
the effect upon the slave owners; upon the self-respect of the North- 
erners; upon national spirit? Which group — the Northerners, the 
Southerners, or the slave owners — do you respect the most ? Is there 
any group of people during this time which wholly commands your 
respect? Give reasons for answer to each part of this question. 

b. Explain fully how immigration aided in the preservation of the 
Union. 

c. Study the maps showing density of population, and arrange the 
population of the several sections by states. What states and cities 
are referred to in the last lines of the first paragraph of § 321? Make 
other similar comparisons. 

d. Explain fully the effect of the grants of public lands upon rail- 
road development. 

e. Trace the history of cotton raising from 17S4 to 1890. What 
was the largest crop of cotton raised by slave labor; by free labor? 

f. Study the lives of the men whose names are given in § 326. 

§ 327. ELECTlbN OF i860 

a. Precisely what was the cause of the split in the Democratic 
party? 

b. Why was Lincoln nominated? Had you been a member of the 
Chicago Convention, how would you have voted? 

c. Bring to class a digest of the Republican platform of i860, and 
discuss its principal features. 

§§ 328-332. Secession 

a. Was the South wholly wrong in the struggle which culminated 
in secession? Upon the basis of a strict construction of the Consti- 
tution, did the South demand more than the Constitution justified? 
Prove your statements. 



448 Secession 

b. Summarize the compromise efforts of 1860-61. If you had 
been in the Senate in 1861, how would you have voted on the Crit- 
tenden Compromise, and why? 

c. Secession: describe carefully the course of South Carolina; did 
all the cotton states actually secede? Explain carefully the difference 
of interests between the cotton states and the border states. 

§§ ZZlii 334- The North and the South 

a. Look up and describe the President's " war powers." 

b. How do you account for the apathy of the Northerners in the 
winter of 1860-61 ? Explain conditions in the South which made it 
possible for a small minority of slave owners to dominate public 
opinion. 

c. Upon what grounds could Phillips base his assertion that 
" Lincoln has no right to a soldier in Fort Sumter " ? 

Historical Geography 

Represent in colors upon an Outline Map: (i) free soil, (2) slave 
soil, (3) states which cast their vote for Douglas or for Bell, (4) states 
which seceded before April, 1861, (5) states which seceded after that 
time. 

General Questions 

a. Represent upon a chart the origin and history of political parties 
from 1824 to i860. 

b. What entries under headings already in note-book must you 
make? What new headings does this chapter suggest? 

Topics for Investigation by Individual Students 

a. Tabulate the electoral vote of i860, and compare it with that of 
1856 and of 1896. 

b. Summarize Senator Crittenden's argument. 

c. Compare Buchanan's and Andrew's messages. 



k 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Dodge's Bird^s-Eye View of our Civil War 
(should be read by all students) ; Wilson's Division and Reunion, 
216-252 ; Johnston's American Politics, 197-206. 

Special Accounts. — Ropes's Story of the Civil War; Rhodes's 
United States ; MoTse''s Lincoln ; *Stephens's War between tAe States ; 
♦Davis's Confederate States: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War; 
Swinton's Twelve Decisive Battles; Boynton's The Navy during 
the Rehelliott ; *Greeley's American Conflict ; Mahan's Farragut. 
Biographies of the leading statesmen and generals, Guide, § 39. 

Sources. — American History Leaflets ; Old South Leaflets ; Johns- 
ton's American Orations; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln; 
McPherson's History of the Rebellion; Grant's Memoirs; Sherman's 
Memoirs ; Moore's Rebellion Record. W^ritings of the leading states- 
men and generals. Guide, §§ 46, 47. 

Maps. — Dodge's Bird's-Eye View. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 234-240. 

Illustrative Material. — Scribner's Campaigns of the Civil War; 
Herndon's Lincoln; Thurlow Weed's Autobiography; McCulloch's 
Men and Measures ; Greeley's Recclleciions ; The Sherman Letters; 
Eggleston's A RebePs Recollections ; Jones's A Rebel War Clerk! s 
Diary; Harper's Pictorial History; Garrisons' Garrison, Lowell's 
Commemoration Ode, Biglow Papers, Second Series, and Political 
Essays; Whittier's Anti-slavery Poems, Barbara Frietchie, etc.; 
Moore's Songs and Ballads of the Southern People; Roe's An Orig- 
inal Belle and other stories ; Coffin's Winning his Way; Harris's 
On the Plantation; Page's Among the Camps; Mitchell's In War 
Time and Roland Blake; Soley's Sailor Boys of '61; Stedman's 
Occasional Poems; Cable's Strange True Stories of Louisiana; 
Cooke's Hilt to LLilt and other stories ; Trowbridge's Drummer Boy 
and other stories ; Hapgood's Abraham Lincoln. 
2G 449 



450 



The Civil War 



[§334 



THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865 



Abraham 
Lincoln. 
Morse's 
Lincoln ; 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, II, 
3C8. 



Lincoln's 
first inaugu- 
ral, 1861. 
American 
History 
Leaflets, 
No. 18; 
Johnston's 
Orations, 
IV, 16-31. 



334. Lincoln's Policy, 1861. — Abraham Lincoln admir- 
ably represented that which was best in American life. 
Under every disadvantage of birth and breeding, he raised 
himself by his own exertions to the level of the best statesmen 
of the day. His sincerity, his straightforwardness, his keen 
perception of right and wrong, were all enforced by a sense 
of humor and a kindliness of bearing that endeared him to 
all with whom he came in contact. 

On the fourth day of March, 1861, Lincoln entered upon 
the discharge of his duties as chief magistrate of the United 
States. In his inaugural address he stated the broad lines 
of the policy he intended to pursue. He began by declaring 
that he had " no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere 
with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. . . . 
I have no incHnation to do so." He held that in contem- 
plation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union ol 
these states is perpetual, and he maintained that " the Union 
is much older than the Constitution." It followed from these 
premises, only partly set forth above, " that no state upon its 
own rnere motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; that 
resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void. 

" I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and 
the laws, the Union is unbroken ; and to the extent of my 
ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly 
enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully 
executed in all the states. ... In doing this there needs 
be no bloodshed or violence ; and there shall be none, unless 
it be enforced upon the national authority." Lincoln be- 
lieved that if the laws were enforced in the South wherever 
they could be executed without resort to arms, and if the 
mail service were regularly carried on, the Southern people 
would gradually come to their senses and repeal the ordi- 
nances of secession. At all events, he was determined that, 
while there should be no more trifling with the idea of 



i86i] 



Lincoln'' s Policy 



451 



cabinet. 



I 



State sovereignty, the Southerners should be the aggressors 
if there must be aggression. He stated further, after a con- 
sideration of secession from the constitutional standpoint, 
that he understood a proposed amendment to the Constitu- 
tion had passed Congress " to the effect that the Federal 
Government shall never interfere with the domestic institu- 
tions of the states, including that of persons held to service." 
As to such an amendment he declared that he had " no 
objection to its being made express and irrevocable. . . . 
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not 
in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The govern- 
ment will not assail you. You can have no conflict without 
being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath regis- 
tered in heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have 
the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it." 

335. Lincoln's Advisers. — The new President gathered Lincoln's 
about him an able set of advisers. His three rivals for the 
Republican nomination, Seward, Chase, and Cameron, be- 
came the heads of the State Department, the Treasury, and 
the War Department respectively. Seward maintained his 
place during the war; but Chase was later appointed Chief 
Justice, and Cameron was displaced at the War Depart- 
ment in 1862 by Edwin M. Stanton, who continued to 
exercise the office of Secretary of War until after the close 
of the conflict. Gideon Welles of Connecticut was made 
Secretary of the Navy, and was ably seconded by Gusta- 
vus Vasa Fox, the Assistant Secretary. 

At the beginning of his administration, Lincoln was still 
unfamiliar to those about him. Seward, Chase, and Cam- 
eron had long occupied leading positions at Washington, and 
no doubt felt somewhat uneasy in the position of advisers to 
their successful rival. Seward, at all events, regarded him- 
self as the real head of the government, and proceeded to 
instruct Lincoln as to the policy to be pursued by the ad- 
ministration. The Secretary of State sketched out a bold 
plan of foreign aggression, quite unmindful of the moral 
obligations of the nation. In this way he hoped to reunite the 



Lincoln and 
Seward. 



452 



The Civil War 



\%ii(> 



Fall of Fort 
Sumter, 
April, 1861. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 

1,40.83: 
Rhodes's 
United 
States, III, 
357 ; Contem- 
poraries, IV, 
Nos. 70-72. 



Lincoln's 
Proclama- 
tion. 



two sections of the Union by .thrusting the slavery dispute 
to one side. He also conferred with several Southerners 
who styled themselves " Commissioners from the Govern- 
ment of the Confederate States." Lincoln quietly set 
Seward in his proper place, and did it in a manner that 
showed his own capacity to manage affairs and his ability to 
handle men. During the whole course of the conflict, 
Lincoln exercised personally the great powers conferred on 
him — although he always asked the advice of the cabinet 
on important matters. 

336. Uprising of the People, April, 1861. — When Lin- 
coln assumed charge of the government, only three or four 
military posts in the seceded states remained in federal 
hands. The most important were Fort Pickens, on the 
Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor. An 
attempt was made to reinforce the garrison of the former, 
but the officer in command of the vessel containing the sol- 
diers refused to land them. To hold Fort Sumter in the 
face of the gathering opposition to the federal government 
was plainly impossible. The administration, however, deter- 
mined to supply the garrison with provisions, and notified 
the governor of South Carolina of its intention. On April 
12 the Southern guns opened on the fort, which surren- 
dered April 14. Not a man had been injured, but the 
little garrison had been overcome by hunger and hard- 
ships. Great was the rejoicing at Charleston ; at last the flag 
of the United States had been " humbled before the glorious 
little state of South CaroHna," said the governor of that 
state. 

The next day, April 15, 1861, President Lincoln issued 
a proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand volunteers. 
The document was most admirably written, as were all of 
Lincoln's state papers, and contains the best statement of 
the points in dispute froiTi a Northern standpoint. 

"The laws of the United States," said the President, 
" have been for some time past, and now are opposed, and 
the execution thereof obstructed, in the states of South 



d 



uprising of the People 



453 



Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed 
by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. 

" Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the 
Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and 
hereby do call forth, the militia of the several states of the 
Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in 
order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws 
to be duly executed. 



To ihe [iliiens of McLean (ounly: 

By virlttc mt «br PrvrlNaiRllon •f bli Ekrcllencr, thr G^wtw 



. SprlnsOrld, lh<^ plar* « 






EogivaiilM an Hrm»A Uw| vM to 



"And I hereby command the persons composing the said 
combinations aforesaid to disperse and retii'e peaceably to 
their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date." 

Now at once appeared the results of Southern blunders. 
By their own acts, they had 

transferred the contest from fj) j^lg^] ^ ^f^\ 
the slavery question, upon „-- nOTPPDCl 

which the Northerners were M UiiUeil SmKmRO u 

not agreed, to the ground 
of the preservation of the 
Union, upon which the 
Northern people were of 
one mind. Hundreds of 
thousands of men in the 
North and in the "border 
states " cared nothing for 
the struggle over slavery. 
They saw no reason why 
a Southerner should not 
carry his slaves where he 
wished without danger of 

losing them. The instant that the Southerners under 
another flag attacked the United States, their sympathies 
changed. Even the leading Northern Democrats could 
not bear this insult to the Union government. The Demo- 
cratic ex- Presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan 



E^aoh Company lo conBi«t of 



Om Cmm^mj ^ abrWr b<«» r«MM In BI«Mrfaft«n. ami ■ kipa !• k* iM 



JOHN L. ROUTT, 

■BEBirF or Bcl£AJI CQVWWW. 



Rising of the 
North. 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
84 ; Contem- 
poraries, IV, 
Nos. 73, 74. 



454 



The Civil War 



[§337 



Rising of 
the South. 



The " Border 
states," 1861. 



Missouri. 



" came out for the Union," and Douglas promised Lincoln his 
heartiest support. These facts, telegraphed throughout the 
country, turned many a doubting mind. Nobly Douglas re- 
deemed his pledge : the remaining weeks of his life he 
traveled through the Northwest, arousing by his eloquence 
the people there to rally to the support of the Union. 

In the South, even greater unanimity was displayed. The 
federal government at last was about to coerce a state, and 
to the Southerners' minds, filled with the doctrines of Cal- 
houn, this seemed to be an attack on the rights of self- 
government dear to every man of English blood. 

337. The "Border States," 1861. — Between the free 
states of the North and the slave states of the cotton belt 
which had already seceded (§330), there stretched two 
tiers of slave states, the more southern of which — Virginia, 
North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas — soon cast in 
their lot with secession (April to May, 1861). Only one of 
the border slave states, Delaware, unreservedly joined the 
North. In two others, Maryland and Kentucky, the politi- 
cians endeavored to set on foot a policy of neutrality which 
would have been very advantageous to the South ; but the 
Union men were strong in both of them, and with encourage- 
ment from the government managed to maintain their states 
on the side of the North. The people of western Virginia 
had no sympathy with the secessionists of the eastern part 
of that state ; they held a convention of their own and, with 
the help of a small federal army, seceded from Virginia, and 
later on (1863) were admitted to the Union as the state of 
West Virginia, although not without straining a point of con- 
stitudonal interpretation. 

In Missouri, the contest was for some time doubtful : the 
old native element was strongly in favor of secession, but a 
large body of more recent comers, mainly Germans, were 
as heartily in favor of the Union cause. Fortunately, there 
were two men in the state able and willing to use whatever 
power they had for the Union. These were Francis P. Blair 
and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, the commander of the United 



i86i] Strength of North and South 455 

States arsenal at St. Louis. They acted with such prompti- 
tude and with so much skill that the state was saved for the 
Union, although not without a prolonged struggle in which 
Lyon lost his life. It was not, however, until after the defeat 
of the Confederates at Pea Ridge in March, 1862, that the 
question of the control of the state was definitely settled in 
favor of the North. 

338. Military Strength of the North and South. — The strength of 
preservation of the northern border states to the cause of *'*° '^°'"" 
freedom and union, and the secession of West Virginia from 
Virginia, reduced the area to be conquered, and greatly 
weakened the power of those in rebellion against the fed- 
eral authorities. The slave states, all told, contained twelve 
million inhabitants ; the states which seceded contained less 
than nine millions. Of these only five and one half millions 
were whites, in comparison with a white population in the 
loyal states of twenty-two millions. There were but two 
million eight hundred thousand adult white males in the 
Confederate states, and the federal government had on its 
muster rolls more than one million men in May, 1865. How, 
then, did it happen that the secessionists were not crushed 
at the outset? Why did the contest endure for four 
years ? 

In the first place, the whole population of the seceded Policy of the 
states was utilized for war. The able-bodied men were Southern 
forced into the ranks at first by the violence of public opinion 
and later by a merciless conscription law. The old men, the 
women, and the children remained at home with the bulk 
of the slaves, and bent all their energies to providing the 
soldiers with food and supplies. But as the men were killed 
or kept in Northern prisons, there were no more to take 
their places in the fighting line. As state after state was con- 
quered, the resources of the Confederate government visibly 
diminished, and as the blockade became more effective, the 
supplies of the necessities of modern warfare failed. The 
Southerners over-exerted themselves at the outset ; in the 
beginning they presented a stern front to " the invader " ; 



government. 



456 



The Civil War 



[§339 



Policy of the 

Northern 

government. 



Strength of 
the contend- 
ing armies. 
Dodge's 
View, 

II6-I2I, 

322-324. 



in the end they collapsed as no other conquered people 
have done in modern times. 

Far otherwise was it with the Northerners. Unused to 
arms but more accustomed to the management of great 
business enterprises, the Northern statesmen, when the de- 
parture of the Southerners from Congress finally gave them 
the control of the government, set about conquering the 
seceders with one hand, while they built up the industries 
of the North with the other. Long lines of new railroads 
opened up vast regions to settlement, a most liberal home- 
stead law attracted migration to these new lands, and a high 
protective tariff enormously stimulated manufacturing enter- 
prises. The North grew stronger in resources every year ; 
every year there was a greater population from which to 
recruit the armies ; every year there was a greater fund from 
which to draw revenue for the support of the war. The 
North was immeasurably better equipped for battle in 1865 
than in 1861 ; but this vast industrial expansion absorbed 
the energies of a large portion of the adult male population. 

339. Numbers. — Colonel Theodore Ayrault Dodge, in the 
concluding chapter of his very interesting sketch of the Civil 
War, gives some statistics from which it appears that the 
Union soldiers were always more numerous than their oppo- 
nents- — -at least on paper. For example, on the first day 
of July, 1 86 1, the Union armies numbered one hundred and 
eighty-six thousand soldiers to some one hundred thousand 
on the other side. The Confederate soldiers in January, 
1864, numbered nearly five hundred thousand. At that 
time there were about eight hundred and sixty thousand 
on the rolls of the Union army. Thenceforward the su- 
periority of the Unionists constantly increased until in 
January, 1865, they outnumbered the secessionists two to 
one. As will be seen later on, whenever the figures are 
given, it will be found that the Union soldiers taking part 
in any one campaign or battle outnumbered the Southerners, 
and this was the case in other engagements which are not 
recorded here or whose numbers are not given. It is true, 



i86i] Strength of North and South 457 

therefore, that according to the only records that are pre- 
served, the Northern soldiers outnumbered their opponents 
whether taken as a whole, or considered in portions by 
campaigns or battles. There are few things, however, so 
unreliable as statistics, and these figures especially must 
always be regarded with the greatest caution. The Union 
soldiers performed many services which in the Southern 
armies were discliarged by slaves or not at all. For ex- 
ample, the Northern soldiers drove the supply trains, acted 
as servants, and constructed defensive works, all of which 
duties were performed by negroes for the Southerners. It 
probably would not be far from the truth to say that, until 
the last year of the war, the number of soldiers actually 
equipped and ready to take their places in the fighting 
line was about the same on both sides. The Confederates, 
also, by reason of their better knowledge of the country, 
their superior marching qualities, and their shorter interior 
lines, were able to reinforce their armies at the most im- 
portant points with greater ease and speed than the Union 
authorities could. It was not until 1864 that the Union 
forces were really superior in numbers at all points. 

340. Northern Finances. 1861-1865. — During the clos- Northern 
ing months of Buchanan's administration the federal govern- finances, 
ment had become nearly bankrupt and had been able to 
fulfill its obligations only by means of loans at very high 
rates of interest. No sooner was the war begun than great 
pressure was felt not only by the general government but 
by the state governments, the municipalities, and financial 
institutions in general. Before the close of 1861 the banks 
everywhere suspended specie payments. Temporary ex- 
pedients tided the government over the first months of the 
war. Congress assembled on July 4, 1861. It at once 
authorized a loan and raised the import duties. The Mor- 
rill Tariff (§324), passed in i860, before the war was 
thought of, became the basis of new taxation, and from this 
time until the close of the conflict, not a session of Con- 
gress went by without some increase of the duties on im- 



1861-65. 



458 



The Civil War 



340 



ports. The most important of these measures will be noted 
later. In February, 1862, Congress authorized the issue 
of one hundred and fifty million dollars of paper money 
and made them legal tender in payment of debts. Before 
the end of 1863, the amount was increased to four hundred 
and fifty millions. The premium on gold at once began to 
rise ; in 1863 it reached one hundred and seventy per cent, 




and in 1864 touched the highest mark, two hundred and 
eighty-five per cent. Prices and rents, of course, at once rose, 
and at the end of the contest were nearly ninety per cent 
higher than in 1861. Wages and salaries rose also, but not 
in a corresponding degree — not more than sixty per cent. 
From these facts it can easily be seen that the real cost of 
the war fell most heavily on the poorer classes — on those 
who had nothing to sell save their labor. This, indeed, is 
the invariable effect produced by inflation of the currency 
medium. Another source of funds to which the govern- 
ment had frequent recourse was the issue of bonds at high 
rates of interest to be paid for in the government's own 
depreciated currency. In all, the government incurred a 



i86i] The National Banking System 459 

debt of the face value of two thousand eight hundred and 
fifty millions of dollars, on including the outstanding paper 
currency or greenbacks, over three billion dollars. 

341. The National Banking System. — As the contest National 
deepened, it became more and more difficult to sell these ^^"^• 
bonds, no matter what the rate of interest or the amount of ' 
depreciation of the currency which could be paid for them ; 

the people had so little confidence in the stability of 
the government that they were not willing t-o lend money 
on any terms^ Subscriptions to bonds fell off and a new 
expedient to dispose of them was invented. This was the 
national banking system, based on the New York state 
banking system. The first law on the subject was passed 
in February, 1863, and provided that any five or more 
persons with a minimum capital of one hundred thousand 
dollars — in very small places even less — might organize 
a national bank on depositing with the government United 
States bonds to the amount of one third of their capital. 
In exchange for these bonds, the government issued to the 
depositing bank, notes redeemable in greenbacks to the 
amount of ninety per cent of the value of the bonds de- 
posited. A market for the bonds of the United States 
would be thus obtained, and a stable currency provided 
for the country. At first the response to this offer was 
not encouraging, but in March, 1864, Congress laid a tax 
of ten per cent on the circulation of the state banks, and 
they at once complied with the provisions of the act of 
1863 and became national banks. 

342. Increased Taxation. — Irredeemable paper currency Taxation, 
and bonds, even when helped by the national bank act, 

did not meet the needs of the government. In 1862 the 
source of revenue which had been discarded by JefTerson 
was again brought into use : by the Internal Revenue Act 
of that year Congress established a comprehensive scheme 
of excise taxation : specific taxes were imposed on the 
production of iron and steel, coal oil, paper, leather, and 
countless other manufactured articles, and a general ad 



460 



The Civil War 



[§343 



Southern 
finances, 
1861-65. 



valorem tax on all manufactures not included in this cate- 
gory ; licenses were required in many callings, and a general 
income tax was imposed ; and steamboat, railroad, and 
express companies were also required to pay taxes on their 
gross receipts. Such a system of heavy taxes on goods 
manufactured in the country would have destroyed the 
protective nature of the tariff; it was necessary, therefore, 
to raise the duties levied on imports correspondingly. In 

1864, the internal revenue 



CONFEDEBATE STATES 

ALMANAC 

FOR THE YtAR Or OUR LOUD 

1864 

SEINO B13SE1TILG, OR LtKV YbAR, AiJd TH£ Itb TXUl 
Ol" IHE mDEPENDENCE OF niE CONITIDERilR 

siires or &1IEEICA. 



oalchlations budb ai* 
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 



BURKE. BOYKIN& CO.. 
acACoir, oA. 



J. McPEIERSON & CO., 

AIWNTA, OA 



system was enormously ex- 
tended, and in connection 
with it another tariff act was 
passed which raised the duties 
on the protected articles out 
of all proportion to the new 
internal revenue taxes. The 
last act was passed after only 
five days' discussion, owing 
to the pressure of urgent 
need. It substantially re- 
mained in force for twenty 
years, although the high in- 
ternal taxes which justified 
the high rates on protected 
goods were, meantime, largely 
lowered or entirely abolished. 
343. Southern Finances, 1861-1865. — The ever-strength- 
ening flood of industry in the North made it possible to 
raise large amounts by taxation, and, in combination with 
the success of the Northern armies after 1863, gave a basis 
for credit upon which to float large issues of bonds. The 
South had no similar resources. There was slight commer- 
cial activity in the seceded states during peaceful times, and 
almost no industry save the cultivation and exportation of 
large crops of cotton and tobacco. The Northern blockade 
of Southern ports effectually stopped this export trade, and 
put an end to the inflow of goods needed in everyday life. 



i86i] Southern Finances 461 

The Southern government was unable to raise any large 
amounts of revenue by taxation ; it necessarily had resort 
to loans and to irredeemable paper money. The bonds 
■vfQre issued at ruinous rates of interest ; but no rates of 
interest could procure buyers in a country where there was 
no capital seeking investment. This source of income was 
soon exhausted, and the Confederate government began 
the issue of treasury notes, redeemable six months " after 
the close of the war." Before long, as the Union armies 
seized state after state, these notes depreciated. Then the 
Confederate Congress authorized the seizure of food for the 
army at rates to be fixed every sixty days ; these supplies 
were paid for in bonds or treasury notes. As the war pro- 
gressed, the depreciation of the treasury notes made them 
almost worthless. Wages and salaries rose slowly, but not 
at all in proportion to the rise in the prices of food and 
clothing. The sufferings of those Southerners who neither 
lived on t.heir plantations nor served in the armies are 
almost beyond description. Nothing contributed more to 
bring about this wrecking of the life of the Southern people 
than the closure of their ports by the Northern cruisers. 

344. The Blockade. — On April 19, 1861, President Lin- The 
coin proclaimed a blockade of the ports of the seceded ^^'ocicade. 

, - Dodge s 

States. At the moment, there were few vessels available for yiew, 
the patrol of the three thousand miles of Confederate sea- ch. viii, 
board. Before long, gunboats were improvised from coast- 
ing steamers, and even ferryboats were pressed into the 
service, while new war ships were built as rapidly as Northern 
shipyards could turn them out. Soon, the federal forces 
occupied important seaports, as New Orleans, and long 
stretches of coast, as the sounds of North CaroUna. Month Mobile, 
by month the blockade became stricter and stricter, until ^!^^'f-^j^ 
finally, after the fall of Mobile in 1864, Wilmington, North 445-504.' 
Carolina, was the only port accessible in any degree to 
blockade runners. These were mostly British vessels, owned 
and manned by British men. The blockade runners took on 
board their cargoes at Nassau, New Providence, one of the 



462 



The Civil War 



[§344 



Effects of the 
blockade on 
the South. 



Bahama Islands. The goods were brought to that place 
from Great Britain in ordinary merchant vessels. The story 
of many of these blockading vessels and of their fearless 
commanders is most thrilling, and shows to what extent men 
will peril their lives for gain. As the blockade became 
harder and harder to evade, the profits of the successful 
blockade runner grew larger. In the last year of the war, 
insurance on the vessels rose nine hundred per cent over 
the rates of 186 1, and captains' wages increased from thirty 
pounds to one thousand pounds sterling per month. 

Blockade running, however romantic its story may be, 
was a purely business venture. Rates of freight were enor- 
mous, • — one hundred pounds sterling per ton. ' Of course 
useful, but bulky and cheap, goods could not be carried at 
this figure. The blockade runner's cargo consisted of small 
expensive articles, whose importation worked harm to the 
Confederacy. The Southern government endeavored to 
prevent this by forbidding the importation of luxuries, by 
fixing a maximum price on certain articles, and by reserving 
for its own use one half of the freight space on every 
blockade runner, at less than the ruling rates of freight. 
These measures reduced the profits of blockade running, 
decreased the number of vessels in that dangerous business, 
and thus greatly assisted the Northern government in its 
endeavor to cut off the people of the Southern states from 
intercourse with the outer world. A few examples will serve 
to show how well the Union government succeeded in that 
endeavor. In i860 two hundred million dollars' worth of 
cotton was exported ; in 1863 four million dollars' worth; 
toward the end of 1864, a pound of Sea Island cotton could 
be bought for four cents at Charleston and sold for two 
dollars and fifty cents at Liverpool. A ton of salt could be 
bought at Nassau for seven dollars arid fifty cents, and sold 
at Richmond for seventeen hundred dollars in gold ; a ton 
of coffee cost two hundred and forty dollars at Nassau, and 
five thousand five hundred dollars in gold at Richmond ; 
finally, a bottle of brandy could be obtained at Liverpool 



i86i] Characteristics of the Conflict 463 

for seventy-five cents, and sold for twenty-five dollars in gold 
at Richmond. 

345. Characteristics of the Conflict. — The war was mainly Topography 
defensive on the side of the seceders, offensive on that of the °^^^^' 'heater 
Union soldiers. It is true that Southern armies occasionally 
invaded the loyal states ; but they never advanced far, and 
were soon obliged to retire. The Northerners, on the other 
hand, undertook the conquest of the South and therefore 
were the attackers. Most writers on the art of war agree 
that defensive is easier than offensive warfare. Other writ- 
ers are inclined to doubt the accuracy of this view, or, at all . 
events, to maintain that the matter has been greatly over- 
stated. They argue, for instance, that the invader can to a 
great extent choose his own time and place ; he also can 
concentrate, while the defender is obliged to maintain many 
posts and be prepared to dispute several roads and passes 
by which the attacker can penetrate into the heart of the at- 
tacked country. In the Civil War, whatever the case 
may have been as to other wars, the advantage lay very 
greatly on the side of the defenders. The Alleghany Moun- 
tains and the Mississippi River cut the theater of war into 
three great sections ; deep and numerous streams flowing 
eastward and westward from the Alleghanies constantly 
impeded the march of the Northern armies. On the other 
hand, the conquest of the states between the Alleghanies and 
the Mississippi would have been vastly more difficult had it 
not been for the water communication afforded by many of 
these streams, which was utilized to the utmost. Overland 
marching, however, was very difficult in the South : the rail- 
roads were few in number, but they were always repaired 
and used to the fullest extent. The land itself was thinly 
settled, and frequently covered by vast forests through 
which led poor "dirt" roads, impassable for artillery and 
army trains in wet weather. These stretches of wilderness 
were penetrated by numberless unused roads known only 
to the few inhabitants of the vicinity, whose sympathies 
were almost entirely on the side of the Southerners. These 



464 TJw Civil War [§ 346 

conditions were in favor of the defenders throughout the 
South, but more especially in the region fought over by the 
armies defending the political capitals of the combatants, — 
Washington on the Potomac and Richmond on the James. 
The Northern armies were probably better fed, clothed, 
and equipped than any army had been before i860. Their 
very wealth hindered their movements in a region so poorly 
provided with roads as the South. On the other hand, the 
Southern soldiers seldom had much in the way of clothing or 
food to delay their movements. It was not until 1864 that 
• the two armies can be said to have been on a footing of 
equality in this regard, and this was then gained by cutting 
down the impedimenta of the Northern armies to the smallest 
possible point consistent with continued efficiency. 
Defense of 346. Defense of "Washington, 1861. — Lincoln's procla- 
Washington. mation calling for troops was issued on April 15; three 
days later a body of Pennsylvania militia reached Washington 
— most of them without arms. The next day, April 19, 
1 86 1, — the anniversary of Lexington and Concord, — the 
Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, hurrying to the protection of 
the capital, was attacked by a mob while marching through 
the streets of Baltimore, and several men were filled and 
wounded. Other troops made their way to Washington 
through Annapolis. Soon their numbers became so formid- 
able that the disloyal element in Maryland was overawed, 
and the route through Baltimore permanently secured. 

For four years Virginia was the battle ground of the two 
armies, — the one, the Army of the Potomac, defending 
Washington, and endeavoring to conquer Virginia and to 
capture Richmond ; the other, the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, endeavoring to defend Virginia and Richmond, to 
attack Washington, and to invade Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania. The scene of the conflict in the East was mainly 
in Virginia, and a knowledge of the topography of that 
state is essential to an understanding of the nature of the 
contest and the difficult task which taxed the resources of 
the invading army. 



i86i] Theater of War in Virginia 465 

347. Theater of War in Virginia. — Parallel to the Alle- 
ghany system, and east of it, rises a lower mountain range 
known as the Blue Ridge. Between it and the mass of 
the Alleghanies flows the Shenandoah River. Its course is 
generally northward, and it joins the Potomac at Harper's 
Ferry. The northern part of the valley is again divided 
into two valleys by a mountain mass through which a few 
roads run. This peculiar shape of the Shenandoah valley 
made it possible for a body of troops to defend itself against 
double or treble its own number, since, instead of retreating 
southward, it could retire northward around the other side 
of the mountain, as one boy sometimes escapes another by 
running around a table. In this case, the Confederate, by 
retreating, might really place himself nearer Washington than 
he was in the beginning. Harper's Ferry was commanded 
by the mountains surrounding it, and could be defended 
only by a very large force perched on these heights. The 
Potomac forms the northern boundary of Virginia, which is 
intersected by numerous large rivers having their sources in 
the Blue Ridge, and flowing parallel to the Potomac in a 
general easterly direction. The most northerly of these 
subsidiary streams is the Rappahannock, which at several 
places, as at Fredericksburg, approaches to within a few 
miles of the Potomac. The main branch of the Rappahan- 
nock is the Rapidan. South of these rivers, not far from 
their confluence, is a stretch of sparsely settled country known 
as the Wilderness ; it contains several hamlets, among others, 
Spottsylvania and Chancellorsville. Another important stream 
is the York, formed by the junction of the Mattapony and 
Pamunkey. To the southward is the James, on which Rich- 
mond is situated. Between the York and the James flows 
the Chickahominy, which empties into the James. Another 
important branch of the latter stream, for the student of 
these campaigns, is the Appomattox. It flows into the 
James to the northward of Petersburg, which stands on ris- 
ing ground some little distance back from the latter river, 
and to the south of it. 



466 



The Civil War 



[§348 



First battle 
of Bull Run, 
July, 1861. 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
167; 

Dodge's 
View, ch. iv, 
Contempo- 
raries, IV, 
No. 103. 



Railroads were not plentiful in Virginia. There was one 
line, however, which ran southward from the Potomac, nearly 
parallel to the Blue Ridge ; at Manassas Junction, near a 
little stream called Bull Run, a branch joined it from the 
west, which communicated with the Shenandoah valley 
through Manassas Gap. There were of course many sub- 
ordinate rivers and mountains, as well as " gaps " or passes, 
which are not mentioned here ; there were also other rail- 
roads. The most important have been noted, and enough 
information given to enable the student to understand the 
strategy of the Virginia campaigns. 

348. The Bull Run Campaign, 1861. — The first object of 
the Union government was the defense of Washington ; this 
required the possession of the Shenandoah valley and of the 
line of the Rappahannock. The Confederates hoped to pre- 
vent the former and to push the Union soldiers back to the 
Potomac. The control of the Manassas Gap Railroad was 
of supreme importance to both combatants, as its possessor 
would be able to reinforce his troops in the valley or on the 
Rappahannock with ease and speed. Manassas Junction, 
where this railroad joined the line from Washington to 
Lynchburg, was the key to the situation. McDowell, the 
Union commander, advanced southward from Washington 
to drive the Southerners back from the Manassas Gap Rail- 
road ; General Patterson, with another force, advanced up 
the valley to prevent the Confederates there from going 
to the aid of their comrades at Manassas Junction. At 
the critical moment Patterson did not attack, and set free 
his opponent, Joseph E. Johnston, who put his men on the 
railroad cars and transported them to Bull Run. This 
stream, a branch of the Potomac, protected the Con- 
federate front. McDowell attacked vigorously, and for a 
time the Union soldiers had ' the best of the fight and vic- 
tory seemed certain. Then the Union troops were divided 
and thrust back. They became panic-stricken and fled to 
Washington (July 21, 1861). The lessons to be learned 
from this defeat were plain enough, — there was nothing 



i86i] 



The Bull Run Campaign 



467 



which could not be repaired. The resolve of the North 
only became sterner and their efforts stronger because of it. 
General George B. McClellan, who had already won several 
small victories in West Virginia, assumed command. Mean- 
time Congress had assembled. The President asked for 
authority to raise four hundred thousand men ; Congress 
voted five hundred thousand. The President asked for four 
hundred million dollars ; Congress authorized a loan of two 
hundred and fifty millions, and began that process of increas- 
ing the taxes which has already been noted (§ 342). Vol- 
unteers poured in to the defense of Washington. McClellan 
proved to be a great drillmaster, and the Army of the Poto- 
mac emerged from its winter quarters a thoroughly disciplined 
body of troops. The victory at Bull Run, on the other hand, 
had disorganized the Confederate army. " Our troops," wrote 
Johnston, "believed the war ended . . . and left the army 
m crowds to return to their homes." 

349. The Contest in the West, April, 1861, to February, 

1862 Meantime, west of the Alleghanies events had been 

progressing more favorably for the Union cause. At first 
sight, these Western campaigns seem singularly disjointed 
and difficult to comprehend. A brief study of the topog- 
raphy of that section will greatly help to make the cam- 
paigns of 1861-63 clearer. 

The region between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, 
extending from the Ohio to the sources of the Tombigby 
and other rivers flowing southward into the Gulf of Mexico, 
is marked by several rivers having a general westerly direc- 
tion, at least through a large part of their respective courses, 
all flowing eventually into the Mississippi. The most north- 
erly of these rivers is the Ohio, forming the northern bound- 
ary of Kentucky, and the dividing line between slavery and 
freedom in that part of the United States. Before reaching 
the Mississippi, the Ohio turns sharply to the south. Cairo, 
the town which marks the junction of these two great 
streams, is situated farther south than Richmond, the chief 
poHtical capital of the Confederacy. At almost the extreme 



Johnston's 
Orations, 
III, 65-81. 



468 



The Civil War 



[§349 



southern point reached by the Ohio, two important rivers 
join it from the south, — the Cumberland and the Tennes- 
see. The former, rising to the west of Cumberland Gap, 
flows first southwestwardly, then westwardly, and turning 
sharply to the north, empties into the Ohio. The Tennes- 
see, rising to the east of Cumberland Gap, flows in the same 




Principal rivers and railroads of the South 

general directions as the Cumberland — its southern bend 
lying far to the south, and its northward course extending 
for a much greater distance ; it flows into the Ohio not far 
to the west of the Cumberland, the town of Paducah mark- 
ing its mouth. These three rivers formed three natural 
lines of defense for the Confederates. The refusal of Ken- 
tucky to secede and the vigor and foresight of General 
Grant and the governor of Illinois prevented the Southern- 



The Contest in the West 



469 



ers from so using the Ohio. Ulysses S. Grant had been 
educated at West Point, and had served with the colors 
during the Mexican War, but was engaged in business pur- 
suits at the time of the firing on Fort Sumter. Entering 
into the contest with great energy, his mihtary knowledge 
at once brought him to the front. He was stationed at 
Cairo. Seeing the importance of Paducah, he seized that 
place and thus gained control of the Ohio for the federal 
government. 

In the first months of 1862, while McClellan held the 
Army of the Potomac inactive in its camps, the Western 
armies were up and doing. On January 19, General George 
H. Thomas defeated a Southern force equal to his own near 
Mill Springs, and compelled the Confederates to abandon 
the upper Cumberland valley. 

Deprived of the control of the mouths of the Tennessee 
and Cumberland rivers, the Southerners liad endeavored to 
close them to the use of the Union forces, who were strong 
on the water, by the erection of two forts at points where 
the rivers approach each other very closely before they join 
the Ohio, — Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Don- 
elson on the Cumberland. They were so near together that 
the garrison of one fort could reinforce that of the other. 
The command of the Tennessee was of great importance to 
both combatants ; for if it passed into the hands of the Union 
forces, a highway would be open to them as far south as 
Alabama and Mississippi. In February, 1862, Grant, in 
co-operation with a naval force under Commodore Foote, 
captured the forts and the greater part of their garrisons, 
but not without inflicting severe hardships on the Union 
soldiers, who were exposed to the most inclement weather. 
The valleys of both rivers now lay open to the Union 
armies. In the following March, another Federal army, 
under General John Pope, seized New Madrid and Island 
No. 10, two formidable positions on the Mississippi River, 
and opened that stream to the Union forces as far south 
as Memphis. 



General 

Grant. 

Rhodes's 

United 

States, III, 

594- 



Capture of 
Forts Henry 
and Donel- 
son, Febru- 
ary, 1862. 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
358; 
Dodge's 
View, ch. vi; 
Contempo- 
raries, IV, 
No. 107. 



470 



The Civil War 



[§3So 



350. The Trent Affair. 1861. — Soon after the beginning 
of the conflict, the President, following out the policy of starv- 
ing the Southerners to surrender, had proclaimed a blockade 
of the Southern ports (§ 344). Upon this, Great Britain 
and France granted belligerents' rights to the Southerners. 
The Confederates hoped and expected that the foreign 
powers would recognize their independence. They based 
this hope on the idea that "cotton is king" ; that the action 
of the United States in closing their ports and practically 
prohibiting the exportation of cotton would cause so much 
suffering among the working people of Great Britain and 
France that those governments would be forced, not merely 
to recognize the independence of the Southern Confederacy, 
but to take part in the contest and open the Southern ports 
to commerce. In this expectation, they were doomed to 
disappointment. The supply of cotton on hand tided the 
spinners over the first period of the war, until it became 
clear that the contest was in reality a struggle between free 
labor and slave labor, in which free workingmen all the 
world over were interested. Far otherwise was it with the 
governing classes in Britain. A few leading men, as Richard 
Cobden, John Bright, and (ioldwin Smith, strongly sup- 
ported the Northern side. But most men in political life 
would have gladly welcomed the " new nation," as William 
Ewart Gladstone called the Confederacy. An incident 
almost immediately gave the English government an oppor- 
tunity to show on which side its sympathies were. 

Anxious to secure the recognition of the independence of 
the Confederacy, the government at Richmond dispatched 
two agents or commissioners, as they were called, to Europe. 
Escaping through the blockading fleet, they embarked on 
the British mail steamer Trent, and were removed from the 
deck of that vessel, on the high seas, by a boarding party 
from the United States war ship Sail Jacinto. The Trent 
was then permitted to continue her voyage. This act 
aroused great rejoicing in the United States ; but Lincoln 
at once said, " We must stick to American principles con- 



1862] The Trent A fair 471 

cerning the rights of neutrals." Ever since the beginning 
of its existence, the American government had protested 
against the exercise of the "right of search" ^ff 233, 297), 
and had manfully insisted on the freedom of neutral com- 
merce. The British government, without waiting to seek 
explanations from the United States, ordered soldiers to 
Canada and took measures to strengthen the British fleet 
in American waters. Fortunately, Captain Wilkes of the 
San Jacinto had not complied with the formalities required 
by the rules of international law : he had not brought the 
Trent into port for adjudication as carrj'ing contraband of 
war. The United States was therefore able to give up the 
commissioners without loss of honor. The eagerness with 
which Great Britain seized the first ppportunity to embarrass 
the United States in a time of great difficulty created a bit- 
terness of feeling in America, which was not lessened by the 
laxity shown by the British government in enforcing inter- 
national obligations in the case of the Alabai7ia and other 
vessels, which will be described later (§ 370). Never- 
theless, the commissioners, when liberated, accomplished 
little or nothing in Europe. 

351. Capture" of New Orleans, 1862. — One of the most 
difficult problems from the blockader's point of view was the 
closing of the mouth of the Mississippi. As a matter of fact, 
in place of one mouth there were several mouths. It was 
practically impossible to enforce the blockade at this point. 
The possession of the lower Mississippi also greatly favored 
the Confederates by making easy the transportation of troops 
and supplies from Texas ; and there was a large contraband 
commerce across the Mexican border, and thence through 
Texas, which could not be stopped so long as the Con- 
federates controlled the lower Mississippi. For all these 
reasons, as well as for others which are more obvious, the 
capture of New Orleans was extremely desirable. 

New Orleans stands almost on a level with the Mississippi. Topography 

, , ■ J I. i iU of country 

It was entirely unprotected on the river side, but the ap- around New 
proach to it was guarded by two forts, situated some dis- Orleans. 



472 



The Civil War 



[l3S^ 



Admiral 
Farragut. 



tance below the city. The country around New Orleans 
was unsuited to military operations, owing to its swampy 
character, and the mouths of the great river were 
all dangerous as anchorages for seagoing vessels. The 
capture of this formidable position was intrusted to David 
G. Farragut, a naval officer who had passed his boyhood in 
Louisiana. He had a large naval force at his disposal, — 
wooden seagoing vessels, — and soldiers were at hand to 



Capture 
of New 
Orleans, 
April, 1862. 
King's New 
Orleans, 
ch. xiii ; 
Battles and 
Leaders, 
II, 14. 




Admiral Farra^t 

co-operate with him. Farragut lightened his vessels by the 
removal of guns and heavy stores and entered the river with 
all save his largest ship. The guns and stores were then 
brought over the bar, taken on board, and the fleet pro- 
ceeded up stream. He found the river obstructed by chains 
and spars. While awaiting a favorable opportunity to pass 
these obstructions, a sustained bombardment of the forts was 
kept up by mortar vessels moored out of sight of the Con- 
federates. Before long, the obstructions were safely passed 
at night, and the Union fleet engaged the forts and a 
Confederate flotilla. Then, steaming onwards, it anchored 
off New Orleans. The city was at Farragut's mercy. It 



i862l 



Shiloh 



473 



Shiloh, April, 
1862. 
Battles and 



1.465; 
Dodge's 
View, ch. X. 



I 



surrendered, and soon afterwards the forts were abandoned 
to the Northern soldiers (April, 1862). This great vic- 
tory gave the control of the lower Mississippi to the Union 
government. 

352. Shiloh, April, 1862. — The victories of Thomas and 
Grant in January and February, 1862, compelled the South- 
erners to abandon the greater part of the state of Tennessee Leaders, 
and to rally to the defense of the Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad. The possession of this road was of the greatest 
importance to the Confederates, because it connected Mem- 
phis on the Mississippi with Chattanooga on the upper 
Tennessee, and was the only direct line connecting the 
Mississippi valley above Vicksburg with the Southern At- 
lantic states. Its loss would be a severe blow to the South- 
erners and would make easier the task of starving them into 
submission. From Memphis, the Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad passes to Corinth ; there it crosses the only north 
and south line then built in that part of the country. Soon 
after leaving Corinth, the railroad reaches the Tennessee 
River, not far from the little town of Florence, and just to 
the south of Shiloh church and Pittsburg Landing. East- 
ward from Florence, the line follows the valley of the Ten- 
nessee, first on one side, then on the other, until it reaches 
Chattanooga. The important points in this line of com- 
munication were Chattanooga, where the railroad connects 
with the seaboard lines ; Pittsburg Landing, where soldiers 
and supplies could be transferred by wagon-road from the 
river steamers to the railroad ; Corinth, the junction with the 
line running parallel to the Mississippi ; and Memphis, an 
important shipping port on the great river. General Halleck, 
who now commanded the Union armies in the West, ordered 
Grant to ascend the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing, and 
there await the coming of Buell with a strong force from 
Nashville. Suddenly the Confederates, under Albert Sidney 
Johnston, attacked Grant's force and drove it back towards 
Pittsburg Landing. A commander of less stubborn ob- 
stinacy would have retreated ; but Grant, with his indomita- 



474 The Civil War [§ 353 

■ ble courage, held on until distant detachments of his own 
army could march to the scene of conflict, and Buell's 
soldiers, who reached the Tennessee in the afternoon of 
the first day of battle, could be ferried across the river. 
Then Grant attacked in his turn and drove the Confederates 
back (April, 1862). This battle was one of the most hotly 
contested during the war, and cost the opposing armies 
twenty-four thousand men, killed, wounded, and missing ; 
among the killed was Albert Sidney Johnston, the Con- 
federate commander. 

Halleck now assumed direct command of the Northern 
forces, united Grant's, Buell's, and Pope's armies into one 
formidable body, and occupied Corinth (May, 1862). 
Memphis surrendered to a naval force about a month later. 
The Mississippi was now open to Union vessels, except 
between Memphis and Baton Rouge. The Confederates 
were severely crippled by the loss of men and territory, and 
especially by the destruction of one end of their principal 
defensive line west of the Alleghanies. Unless they could 
regain control of Corinth and Memphis, they were likely to 
lose the states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. 
Ironclads. 353- The Monitor and the Merrimac, March, 1862. — 

Vessels cased wholly or partly in iron had been in use on the 
Western rivers since the autumn of i860, and had played an 
important part in Grant's campaign on the Cumberland and 
Tennessee. The first armored vessel to appear in Eastern 
waters was the Vifgitiia. Among the graceful frigates of 
the pre-war period was the Merrimac. She was at Norfolk 
at the outbreak of the contest, and was only partially de- 
stroyed by the Union forces when they abandoned the navy 
yard at that place. The Confederates built upon her hull 
a house of iron with the eaves under water, armed the bow 
with a formidable iron beak, and named her Virginia. This 
extraordinary vessel appeared in Hampton Roads on March 
8, 1862, destroyed two wooden frigates, — the Curnberland 
and the Congress, — and began the destruction of a third, 
the Minnesota. She then retired to Norfolk, intending to 



The Peninsular Campaign 



475 



continue her destructive work on the morrow. On the night 
following this disastrous day, an even stranger vessel anchored 
in Hampton Roads. This was the Union armored ship, the 
Monitor, designed by John Ericsson, an immigrant from 
Sweden, and built in one hundred days. She was con- 
structed entirely of iron, and carried two large guns mounted 
in a revolving iron turret. Her sides rose hardly two feet 
above the water, and the armor, extending far beyond her 
hull, effectually protected it from the danger of ramming as 
well as from shot and shell. The next morning the Virgi?iia 
reappeared, and after a four hours' fight retired to Norfolk 
and did not afterwards renew the combat. The battles be- 
tween the Virginia and the wooden vessels of the old type, 
and with the turret ship of the new type, worked a revolution 
in naval architecture ; but the danger threatened by the 
Virginia was probably much exaggerated, as she could not 
have ventured into the open sea. The fear she inspired, 
however, operated powerfully to keep the naval authorities 
from exposing their unarmored vessels in the James and the 
York rivers, and thus produced some effect on McClellan's 
campaign. 

354. The Peninsular Campaign, March to August, 1862. — 
Throughout the winter of 1861-62, McClellan had under his 
immediate command double the force of the Confederate 
general, Joseph E. Johnston, but he could not be induced 
to take the field. In March, 1862, he at last assumed 
the offensive. Instead of maneuvering Johnston out of his 
fortified position, and attacking him on the first opportunity, 
McClellan decided to transport his army to the peninsula 
formed by the York and the James rivers, and advance upon 
Richmond from the east instead of from the north. By 
pursuing this route, he would avoid crossing the Rappahan- 
nock, Rapidan, Pamunkey, and Mattapony rivers, and would 
compel Johnston to abandon his camps near Bull Run and 
march southward to the defense of the Confederate capital. 
McClellan, however, encountered several checks at the out- 
set : the civil authorities, anxious for the safety of Washing- 



Monitor and 
Merriinac, 
March, 1862. 
Old South 
Leaflets, III, 
No. 3; 
Battles and 
Leaders, I, 
611, 692. 



Peninsular 
campaign, 
1862. 

Battles and 
Leaders, II, 
189,319; 
Dodge's 
View, chs. 
xi-xiii. 




4/6 



1862] Second Bull Run Campaign 477 

ton, retained about seventy-five tliousand men there and in 
the Shenandoah valley. McCIellan's plans became known 
to Johnston almost as soon as formed. The result of this 
and of McCIellan's slowness was that when the Union sol- 
diers reached the peninsula, instead of finding it a clear 
field for their advance on Richmond, they found their way 
barred by a line of entrenchments extending from Yorktown 
to the James. By the end of May, however, the Union 
army reached the vicinity of Richmond, and fought a severe 
and indecisive battle at Fair Oaks — about ten miles from 
the Confederate capital (May 31). Johnston was wounded, 
and Robert E. Lee assumed command. Meantime a 
Confederate army in the Shenandoah valley, led by Thomas 
J. Jackson, — known popularly as " Stonewall Jackson," — 
had been fighting a remarkable campaign. So admirably 
had Jackson planned, and so wonderfully had his soldiers 
marched, that they had defeated two Union armies in suc- 
cession. Lee now ordered Jackson to abandon the valley 
and transport his men by rail to Richmond. With this rein- 
forcement, Lee attacked the Union army again and again 
(June 26-July 2, 1862); forced it to withdraw to the 
James ; and attacked it there on Malvern Hill, to be re- 
pulsed with fearful loss. In these engagements, the total 
loss was thirty-six thousand men, more than one half of 
which was on the Southern side. 

355. The Second Bull Run Campaign, August, 1862.— Pope's 
Notwithstanding its misfortunes, the Army of the Potomac campaign, 
still threatened Richmond, and Lee, to secure its withdrawal. Battles and 
determined to make a demonstration against Washington. l-eaders, 
Halleck's victories at Corinth and Memphis had commended jj^^ge's 
him to the government. He had been summoned to Wash- View, ch. 
ington to act as chief of staff, or military adviser to the '"^• 
President. In his turn he had called General Pope from 
the Mississippi valley to command the troops defending 
the federal capital. Halleck and Lee had known one 
another before the war, and Lee now felt certain that if he 
should seriously threaten Washington Halleck would sum- 



478 



The Civil War 



[§356 



Second 
battle of 
Bull Run, 
August, 1862. 



Antietam, 

September, 

1862. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

11,630; 

Dodge's 

View, 

102-107. 



mon McClellan from the peninsula. This calculation proved 
to be well founded, for no sooner was Lee's purpose known 
than McClellan was ordered to retire from the neighborhood 
of Richmond and later to send assistance to Pope. The 
Confederates now made one of those rapid marches by which 
they gained decisive advantage. Jackson appeared on Pope's 
line of communication and compelled him to retire. That 
general had begun his career in the East with a most vain- 
glorious proclamation about neglecting lines of retreat. He 
was now compelled to look to his own. Lee then rejoined 
Jackson, inflicted a severe defeat on the Federals at Bull 
Run (August 29-30, 1862), and forced Pope backwards to 
the defensive works around Washington. It was thought 
at the time that the lukewarmness of McClellan's men in 
supporting Pope had materially contributed to this disaster 
to the Union cause ; especially was Fitz-John Porter blamed. 
It now seems certain that, although the Union soldiers felt 
slight confidence in Pope, they performed their duties in an 
able and soldierly manner. 

356. Antietam and Fredericksburg, 1862. — Elated by 
this extraordinary success, the Confederate authorities de- 
termined to carry the war into the North. Lee crossed 
the Potomac near Harper's Ferry to release Maryland from 
"the foreign yoke " — ^ as connection with the Union was 
termed — and to add that state to the number of the 
seceders. He found the mass of the people of Maryland 
hostile. Meantime McClellan was now again in command. 
Keeping between the Confederates and Washington, he met 
the Southerners at the Antietam and there fought a bloody 
battle (September 17, 1862). The Union force was double 
that under Lee ; but McClellan threw away the advantages 
which his superiority gave him in a series of disconnected 
assaults. The two armies lost twenty-two thousand men, 
more than twelve thousand being on the Union side. Lee 
then retreated across the Potomac, and McClellan was super- 
seded by General Ambrose E. Burnside. 

The Confederates now fortified Marye's Heights on the 



1862] Campaign in Eastern Tennessee 479 

south side of the Rappahannock behind Fredericksburg. Fredericks- 
Burnside attacked this impregnable position in front, and ^"fg, De- 
was repulsed with a loss of thirteen thousand men to four Battles' and 
thousand on the Confederate side (December 13, 1862). Leaders, 
The '' Horror of Fredericksburg " led to Burnside's dis- l!^'7°.' 

° Dodge s 

missal and the elevation of " Fighting Joe " Hooker to the view. 

chief command of the Army of the Potomac. no-ns- 

357. Campaign in Eastern Tennessee, 1862 After the Bueii and 

occupation of the western end of the Memphis and Charles- ^^agg. 

ton Railroad, two lines of attack presented themselves to headers 

the Union commander:- the capture of Vicksburg and other 111,31; 

fortresses on the banks of the Mississippi, and the occupa- ^^'^S^f 

'■ View, ch. XV 

tion of Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee. The latter 
was the more important as its accomplishment would make 
communication between Virginia and the Gulf states diffi- 
cult and slow and thus greatly aid a future conquest of 
Mobile, Vicksburg, and other places in Mississippi. Accord- 
ingly, Halleck ordered Buell, with one portion of the 
Western army, to proceed to Chattanooga; Grant and 
Rosecrans, with the other divisions, were to remain in 
and about Corinth and make what conquests they could. 
Braxton Bragg, the new Southern commander in the West, 
showed himself to be a man of military perception and 
energy. Leaving Price and Van Dorn to occupy the 
attention of Grant and Rosecrans, he placed thirty thou- 
sand men on railroad cars, transported them to Mobile, 
and thence to Chattanooga, and reached that place in 
advance of Buell. He then eluded that commander and 
marched northward across Tennessee and Kentucky to 
the vicinity of Louisville on the southern side of the 
Ohio River ; a small force even penetrated as far as 
Cincinnati. Bragg was then obliged to retire and to fight Perryville, 
the Union army at Perryville (October 8, 1862). After ^^^^^'''' 
this conflict he retired to Chattanooga. Buell, instead of 
following him, halted at Nashville, on the Cumberland, and 
was relieved by Rosecrans. 

Before long Bragg again marched northward. This 



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THE 

CIVIL WAR 

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I862J 



Lincoln's Policy as to Slavery 



481 



time he advanced as far as Murfreesboro on the road 
to Nashville. There, near Stone River, he encountered 
the Union army, which was on its way southward to 
Chattanooga. A most stubborn contest followed. Splen- 
didly commanded by Thomas and Sheridan, the Union 
center repelled every Southern attack (December 31, 
1862). Out of eighty thousand men engaged, twenty- 
three thousand were placed out of the fighting line by 
this one day's battle. Bragg retired toward Chattanooga, and 
Rosecrans remained where he was for nearly six months, 
until June, 1863. 

Meantime Price and Van Dorn endeavored to carry out 
their p^rt of the Confederate plan of campaign. They 
attacked the Union armies at luka (September 19, 1862) 
and at Corinth (October 3 and 4, 1862), and were each 
time repulsed, but they prevented the sending of rein- 
forcements to Buell. The autumn campaign, therefore, 
may be said to have been unfavorable to the Northern 
armies. 

358. Lincolns Policy as to Slavery, 1861-1862. — In his in- 
augural address (§ 334), President Lincoln had stated that 
he stood by the declaration in the Chicago platform (§ 326), 
— that the right of "each state to regulate its own domestic 
institutions according to its own judgement exclusively " was 
essential to the " endurance of our political fabric." For 
a long time, a year and a half, Lincoln maintained this 
position so far as the march of events permitted him so 
to do. In 1 86 1 General John C. Fremont, the first candi- 
date of the modern Republican party for President, and 
now commanding the miUtary department of Missouri, had 
issued an order to the effect that the slaves of all persons in 
Missouri, taking up arms against the Federal government, 
should be free. The President overruled him. Later on, 
in 1862, General Hunter, commanding the Federal forces 
in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, issued an order 
declaring all the slaves in those states free; but Lincoln 
reversed this order, stating that he reserved the manage- 



Rosecrans 

and Bragg, 

Stone River 

December, 

1862. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

111,613; 

Dodge's 

View, 122- 

126. 



Lincoln's 
slavery 
policy, 
1861-62. 



482 The Civil War [§ 358 

ment of the whole matter to himself as commander in chief. 
He well knew that the mass of the people in the North 
cared little for abolition and would not have entered upon 
the war to free the slaves — ■ their purpose was to save the 
Union. There was, however, a body of determined and 
energetic men in the North who were resolved to bring 
about the abolition of slavery. They did not at all like the 
attitude, which the President had taken. 

From the very beginning of the conflict slaves had been 
received into the Union lines and there retained. General 
B. F. Butler, commanding at Fortress Monroe, appears to 
have begun this measure by refusing to deliver up slaves 
who had escaped into his lines to their owner, a Confederate 
soldier — who claimed them under the Fugitive Slave Act. 
Butler declared that he retained them as " contraband of war," 
on the ground that their services would be useful to the enemy. 
This policy was approved by the President and by Congress. 

In March, 1862, Lincoln took an important step in recom- 
mending Congress to grant pecuniary aid to any state which 
should undertake the gradual abohtion of slavery with com- 
pensation to the owners. Congress fell in with the Presi- 
dent's views; it also (April, 1862) passed a law abolishing 
slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation to 
the owners ; West Virginia, too, abolished slavery within its 
limits. The Senate, at about the same time, ratified a 
treaty with Great Britain for suppressing the slave trade 
by permitting a mutual right of search of merchant vessels 
within two hundred miles of the African coast, and within 
thirty leagues of the more important places outside the 
United States, where slavery still existed. In June (1862), 
Congress took a long stride forward by abolishing slavery in 
the territories without compensation, and in the following 
July passed an act authorizing the seizure of slaves of 
persons then in rebellion. 

Lincoln had been much influenced by the stubborn resist- 
ance offered by the Southerners. He also probably thought 
that the antislavery sentiment was gaining strength in the 



1863] The Emancipation Proclamation 483 

North. He already had in mind the emancipation of the Lincoln's 
slaves in the states then in insurrection as a war measure ^'^"^'" *° 
justifiable under the Constitution. On August ig, 1862, Augusrisez 
Horace Greeley's paper, the New York Tribune, contained Stedman 
an article bitterly attacking the President's policy of inaction andHutchm- 

. . r y son Yjj^ gj. 

as to slave emancipation. In reply Lincoln wrote a letter American 

to Greeley, contradicting nothing, denying nothing, but ^i^tory 

setting forth his ideas in language which no one could mis- j/q 5^' 

understand, "I would save the Union," he said ; " I would 

save it the shortest way under the Constitution. . . . My 

paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and 

is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save 

the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it ; and if 

I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and 

if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, 

I would also do that." The true heart and singleness of 

purpose which animated Lincoln, as well as the wisdom 

which guided his actions, were 

seldom more conspicuous than 

in this letter, which should be c/ /^,c 

read by all students who desire to understand this epoch in 

our history. His " personal wish," he concluded by saying, 

was "that all men everywhere could be free"; at the time 

it did not coincide with what he deemed to be his plain 

official duty as President. 

359. The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863. — Lincoln 
soon became convinced, however, that the emancipation of 
the slaves, so far as he could bring it about, would be a January, 
justifiable means of distressing the Southerners, and would 1863. 

,^,TT. 1 jA^xU Old South 

arouse sympathy for the Union cause abroad. At the same ig^ptsfiftn. 
time, it would satisfy the demands of an influential body of Ser. No. n; 
his supporters in the North, and could be justified to his 
more numerous supporters as a war measure. He only 
waited for some Union success to justify the step. The 
collapse of Lee's invasion of Maryland gave him the oppor- 
tunity he desired, and on September 22, 1862, he issued a 
proclamation stating that on the first day of the new year 




484 



The Civil War 



[§ 360 



Political 
results of the 
proclama- 
tion. 



Topography 
of country 
around 
Vicksburg. 



(1863) he would declare free all slaves in any portion of 
the country which should then be in rebellion against 
the United States. Accordingly, on January i, 1S63, he 
issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The force and 
legal effect of this document has been disputed ; it is clear, 
however, that it operated to free persons held in slavery in 
portions of the United States then in insurrection, wherever 
such portions were occupied by the Union armies. Of 
course it did not abolish slavery as an institution anywhere. 
As the declaration of a policy, its effect was very important. 
In the November elections following, the Republicans lost 
ground. Some of the change of feehng, thus indicated, was 
due to Lincoln's action ; but how much cannot be stated. 
In the end, however, the policy found favor. Two slave 
states still in the Union abolished slavery, — Missouri, June, 
1863, and Maryland, October, 1864. The issue became 
one of the important questions in the campaign of 1864, 
which resulted in the overwhelming re-election of Lincoln 
(§ 371). The Congress then in being had already rejected 
the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery throughout 
the United States. It now (January, 1865) accepted it 
by the necessary two-thirds majority. The amendment was 
ratified by the requisite number of states and declared in 
force, December, 1865. Slavery was now legally abolished 
throughout the Union. 

360. The Vicksburg Campaign, 1863. — The departure of 
Halleck and Pope to Washington and Buell and Rosecrans 
to eastern Tennessee left Grant in sole command in Missis- 
sippi. Unfortunately, Halleck did not trust Grant, and the 
latter's mihtary rivals were, therefore, frequently able to 
hamper his plans. A study of the map of the forms of 
land (map I) at once shows the difficulties which nature 
placed in the way of the further conquest of the Missis- 
sippi valley. The great flood plain of that river extends 
on the western side nearly to the mouth of the Ohio ; on 
the eastern side, it is cut into two parts by the bluffs which 
approach the river at Natchez and form its eastern bank 



[863] 



The Vickshurg Campaign 



485 



northward to Vicksburg. Northward from the latter point the 
flood plain again stretches along the eastern bank as far as 
Memphis (map p. 468). These "bottom lands" were 
admirably suited to the cultivation of cotton ; they were 
practically inaccessible to an army, and almost inaccessible to 
a hostile fleet, as the channels of the streams which intersected 
them in every direction could easily be blocked by felling 
trees on their banks. In these circumstances, the easiest 
way to approach Vicksburg was by an overland march south- 
ward from Corinth. Public opinion in the North, however, 
was decidedly in favor of an advance by the line of the Mis- 
sissippi. Grant divided his army, sending Sherman down the 
river while he marched overland. A sudden attack on his 
supply depots compelled Grant to draw back, and Sherman, 
assaulting the bluffs above Vicksburg, was repulsed with 
heavy loss. Grant now carried his whole army down stream 
and tried scheme after scheme without accomplishing his 
purpose. Vicksburg itself was of slight importance, but bat- 
teries posted on the high ground just above the town and 
also on a level with the stream commanded the course of 
the river for miles, as in those days it made a bend at al- 
most a right angle at this point. Finally, Grant marched 
his army by Vicksburg on the other side of the Mississippi, 
crossed the river below the fortress, and after fighting sev- 
eral battles gained a position in its rear. The Confederate 
commander. General Pemberton, retreated with his army into 
the works, although Joseph E. Johnston, who had recovered 
from his wound and had assumed command of the Confed- 
erate forces in the West, ordered him to save his army by 
flight. After enduring a long and perilous siege, Pember- 
ton surrendered (July 4, 1863). In a few weeks, the 
other Confederate posts on the river also fell into Union 
hands, and the Mississippi from source to mouth was under 
the control of the national government. While Grant and 
Pemberton were arranging terms of capitulation on July 3, 
1863, the Union army repelled the last assault of the Con- 
federates on the lines at Gettysburg. 



Grant 
captures 
Vicksburg, 
July, 1863. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 

111.493; 
Dodge's 
View, 

93-101. 
142-161. 



486 



The Civil War 



[§ 362 



361. Chancellorsville, May, 1863. — From the middle of 
December, 1862, to the end of April, 1863, the Army of the 
Potomac remained quietly in camp at Falmouth, opposite 
Fredericksburg — the Confederates retaining their strong 
position on Marye's Heights (§ 356). At length, on April 
30, Hooker led the Army of the Potomac out of its camps, 
and, by a skillful maneuver, placed it nearly across the line 
of Lee's communications with the South. Instead of pushing 
to the utmost the advantage thus gained, Hooker halted 
in the forest, which is dense at that point, establishing 
his headquarters at Chancellorsville. Lee had about one 
half as many soldiers under his orders as Hooker. Never- 
theless, he divided them in two parts. With one portion 
Jackson marched across the front of the Union line and 
suddenly attacked it at the point farthest removed from 
Marye's Heights. He found the Northern soldiers entirely 
unprepkred, and nearly destroyed Hooker's right wing 
before help could be sent ; on the following night, Jackson 
was accidentally shot by his own men while returning from 
an examination of the Union position. Lee, redoubling 
his attacks, drove Hooker back across the Rappahannock 
and then, turning on a Federal force, which had mean- 
time seized Marye's Heights, compelled them to seek the 
northern shore of the stream. In four days (May 2-5, 
1863) Lee, with sixty-one thousand men, had dealt a terrible 
blow to the Army of the Potomac of one hundred and five 
thousand men. He now decided again to invade the North. 

362. Gettysburg, July, 1863. — Leading his soldiers 
through the valley of Virginia, Lee crossed the Potomac 
and entered Pennsylvania. The Army of the Potomac also 
crossed that river, keeping between the Confederates and 
the national capital. On June 28, while this movement 
was in progress, the Union forces received a new com- 
mander, George G. Meade. Three days later (July i), the 
two armies came together at the little village of Gettysburg. 
At first the Confederates .were in greater force and the 
Unionists retreated through the village to a fishhook-shaped 



1863] Northern Opposition to the War 487 

crest known locally as Cemetery Ridge. The position 
proved to be remarkably strong, and Meade determined to 
fight the decisive battle at that point. On the next day 
(July 2) the Confederates attacked vigorously, drove back 
the Union left, and gained a position on the right which seri- 
ously menaced the whole line. On the morning of the 3d, 
the Northern soldiers drove them out of this advantageous 
spot, and repelled every attack. Lee determined to make 
one more assault, and sent General Pickett, with fifteen 
thousand men, against the Union center defended by troops 
under General Hancock. Splendidly the Southerners 
marched forward, to be repulsed with awful loss. The bat- 
tle of Gettysburg was won at a loss of fifty thousand men 
out of a total of one hundred and seventy thousand engaged. 
In this conflict, the Confederates had the fewer men and 
suffered the greater loss. 

Gettysburg and Vicksburg should have ended the war ; 
there was no longer any hope of Southern success : every 
month the war continued only made more dreadful the 
ruin of the South ; every month saw an addition to the 
strength and resources of the North. 

363. Northern Opposition to the War. — It was, indeed, Opposition 
fortunate that these successes came when they did : for the *° Federal 

■' ' government 

Union government, at the moment, was hard pressed by the in the North. 
Northern opponents of its policy. There were many sincere, Johnston's 
well-meaning persons in the North who were strongly of ^2-^2."' ' 
the opinion that the general government, under cover of 
military necessity, was using its power to overthrow the 
rights of the states and the personal liberty of private citizens. 
In the critical days following the fall of Fort Sumter, Lincoln 
had found it necessary to seize private property, as railroads 
and telegraph lines, and to use them for military purposes. 
He also had ordered the arrest of persons suspected of 
hostility to the Union cause. There was little evidence 
to convict these persons of crimes recognized by the law, 
and, to secure their detention, Lincoln had suspended the 
operation of the writ of /iai>eas corpus. This brought about 



488 



The Civil War 



[§364 



The draft 
riots, 1863. 



Chicka- 
mauga, Sep- 
tember, 1863. 
Battles and 
Leaders, 
III, 638; 
Dodge's 
View, 
172-183. 



an irritating constitutional controversy. The Constitution 
(Art. i, § 9) merely states that the " writ of habeas corpus 
shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebel- 
lion or invasion the public safety niay require it." Article i 
relates to the legislative power, and it might be inferred 
from this that the intention of the Constitution was that 
Congress should exercise the suspending power. The Presi- 
dent ordered the suspension of the writ when Congress was 
not in session, and there was ground for the argument that 
unless the Executive exercised this function it could not be 
exercised at all in very critical moments. In 1863 Con- 
gress, by act, conferred on the President the right to sus- 
pend the operation of the writ. Since the war, the Supreme 
Court has decided that the final decision as to the suspen- 
sion of the writ in a particular case belongs to the courts. 

Another cause of opposition was the action of the govern- 
ment in pursuance of an act of Congress passed in 1863. 
This authorized the general government to have resort 
to a "draft" or conscription to fill the ranks of the armies. 
In the summer of 1863 riots directed against the enforce- 
ment of this law occurred in several places, especially in 
New York. The government was now strong enough to 
bear down all opposition, and the rioters were severely dealt 
with. The real result of the draft act, however, was to com- 
pel the states to fill their quotas of soldiers by paying large 
bounties to those who would enlist in the army. 

364. Chickamauga and Chattanooga, 1863. — In June, 1863, 
Rosecrans again took up the task of capturing Chattanooga. 
By a series of well-planned and admirably executed ma- 
neuvers he compelled Bragg to abandon that place. After 
Gettysburg, the Confederate army in the West was reinforced 
by two of Lee's divisions, under one of the best commanders, 
General Longstreet. General Burnside also led a new Union 
army to eastern Tennessee, and occupied Knoxville. On 
September 19, 1863, Bragg suddenly attacked Rosecrans at 
Chickamauga, and nearly routed him. But here, as at Mur- 
freesboro, Thomas saved the day by holding the center of 




^y'^JM^.^^ 



^Xr^^-is^^ae*^ 



American gfenerals 



490 



The Civil War 



[§365 



Chatta- 
nooga, 
November, 
1863. 

Battles and 
Leaders, 
III, 679; 
Dodge's 
Viezu, 
184-189. 



Grant made 
lieutenant 
general, 
March, 1864. 



Atlanta 

campaign, 

1864. 

Battles and 

Leaders, 

IV, 260; 

Dodge's 

View, 

223-243, 

255-262. 



the Union position. Thomas then succeeded Rosecrans in 
command, but was obliged to shelter his army in Chatta- 
nooga, where Bragg blockaded it, while Longstreet besieged 
Burnside at Knoxville. Meantime, Grant had taken com- 
mand of all the Union armies west of the Alleghanies. 
He hastened to the help of Thomas and Burnside. Re- 
inforcements had also been sent from the East, and Hooker, 
with a detachment from the Army of the Potomac, reached 
Chattanooga immediately before Grant, with Sherman's 
corps of the Mississippi army, arrived on the scene of 
action. Grant at once sent Sherman to attack Bragg's right 
and Hooker to gain his left, while with Thomas's veterans 
he held him fast in his lines. Everything fell out happily : 
Thomas's men, eager to show their courage, carried the 
Confederate center by assault, and Bragg retreated in con- 
fusion (November, 1863). Sherman then went to the relief 
of Knoxville ; on his approach Longstreet retired through 
the mountains to Virginia. 

Grant had won the confidence of the Northern people by 
his brilliant successes. He was now made heutenant gen- 
eral, and given command of all the Union armies on both 
sides of the Alleghanies (March, 1864). He assumed direct 
control of the operations in Virginia, and confided the 
leadership of the armies operating from Chattanooga to his 
tried and trusted subordinate. General Sherman. 

365. The Atlanta Campaign, May to July, 1864. — The 
task to which Sherman set himself was most arduous. Atlanta 
was the only manufacturing town of importance, from a mili- 
tary point of view, in the Confederacy. It also was an impor- 
tant railway center, as the lines from Alabama, Georgia, 
and the Carolinas converged there. The country between 
Chattanooga and Atlanta was very diflficult of access : the 
railroad ran through narrow gorges under mountains, whose 
tops, crowned with artillery, made advance on that line impos- 
sible. The Confederate government gathered every soldier 
who could be spared from the defense of Richmond to 
guard this important post, and placed in command Joseph 



1864] Plan of Campaign 491 

E. Johnston, of living Southern commanders second only to 
Lee. To the conquest of these seventy-five thousand men, 
Sherman brought one hundred thousand veterans. 

Instead of attacking Johnston in front, Sherman used his 
superiority in numbers to outflank him, and thus compelled 
him to retreat from one strong position to another. 
Johnston showed great ability, but the skill of the Union 
commanders and the enthusiasm, courage, and discipline of 
the Northern soldiers overbore all obstacles. The Con- 
federate government had never placed entire confidence in 
Johnston, and his retreat impelled them to displace him and 
appoint Hood to the chief command at the moment when the 
Union army was approaching Atlanta. Hood was expected 
to fight, and not to retreat. Again and again he attacked 
Sherman, only to be beaten off with cruel loss. He then 
advanced northward in the expectation that Sherman would 
follow him, and thus abandon the conquest of Atlanta. But 
the Union commander contented himself with sending back 
a portion of his troops under Thomas and Schofield. With 
the remainder, some sixty thousand strong, he completed 
the destruction of the mills and factories at Atlanta, and set 
out for the seacoast through the heart of the Confederacy. 

366. Plan of Campaign. — The "march to the sea" had strategy of 
long been in contemplation. In the preceding years, while the ^^^^ ^ ^^^ 
Vicksburg campaign was still in progress. Colonel Grierson, Leaders, 
with seventeen hundred men, had ridden from the Tennessee iv, 247. 
to Baton Rouge. He reported that " the Confederacy was a 
mere shell." Apart from the soldiers in the front, there were 
almost no fighting men in the South. Sherman thought, 
and Grant agreed with him, that as long as he was out of 
the reach of the armies under Lee and Hood, he would be 
perfectly safe. The advantages of his proposed movement 
were many : in the first place, it would go far toward con- 
vincing the Southerners of the hopelessness of further resist- 
ance, and would probably increase the opposition to the 
Confederate government, which was already noticeable in 
some portions of the South ; in the second place, its sue- 



492 



The Civil War 



[§367 



Sherman's 
marches 
through 
Georgia 
and the 
Carohnas. 
Old South 
Leaflets, 

III, No. s; 
Battles and 
Leaders, 

IV, 663; 
Dodge's 

Vieio, 
279-292, 
302-309. 



cessful prosecution would encourage the people of the 
North, and might have an important effect on European 
public opinion. The great dangers to be appi^ehended were 
from the two Confederate armies. Grant felt able to keep 
Lee fully employed ; but could Thomas, without Sherman's 
aid, crush Hood? After a thorough consideration of all 
these points, Grant gave Sherman permission to go. 

367. Sherman and Thomas. — Leaving Atlanta, Sherman 
and his men marched gayly through Georgia. Everywhere 
as they passed along they destroyed the railroad system 
by tearing up rails and twisting them into fantastic shapes 
by means of fire. The soldiers lived off the country, but, 
when not opposed, otherwise respected the rights of pri- 
vate property. On December 10, 1864, Sherman opened 
communication with the Union fleet blockading Savannah. 
Ten days later, his soldiers entered that city. After resting 
his men, he again set out — this time on a more difficult 
and dangerous enterprise. The plan now was that he 
should march northward through the Carolinas, and occupy 
some position whence he could menace Lee's communica- 
tions with the Southern states. With his customary fore- 
sight and energy, Sherman started before he was expected 
to do so, and thus gained a position in front of a force which 
had been gathered to oppose him. His northward advance 
compelled the evacuation of Charleston, and, on February 
1 7, he entered Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. Lee 
now assumed the responsibility of appointing Johnston to 
command the defense against this invasion from the South. 
That general exercised all his old-time skill, but nothing 
that he was able to do could stop Sherman: the latter 
reached Goldsboro, North Carolina, in safety, and once 
again opened communication with the fleet. Meantime 
Wilmington had fallen, and Thomas had destroyed Hood's 
army. Schofield, with a portion of the Western army, joined 
Sherman at Goldsboro; the latter was now (March 21, 
1865) fully able to cope with any army the Confederates 
could place in the field. 



1864] 



Grant and Lee 



493 



For a time, indeed, it had seemed as if Thomas would 
not be able to carry out the part of the plan which had been 
assigned to him. A portion of his force under Schofield 
was attacked at Franklin, in Tennessee, and he was obliged 
to retire to Nashville before he felt able to make a stand 
against Hood. At that place he slowly gathered a formi- 
dable army about him, but refused to sally forth until his 
preparations were complete. Grant and the government 
at Washington became alarmed ; they endeavored to stir 
him. Thomas would cheerfully hand over the command to 
another ; he would not give battle until he was ready. At 
last all preparations were made ; he left his entrenchments 
(December 15, 1864) and attacked Hood. In two days he 
not merely routed that general : he destroyed- his army as a 
fighting force — it was never brought together again ! 

368. Grant and Lee, 1864. — In May, 1864, the Army of 
the Potomac again took up its task of the destruction of Lee's 
army, and the conquest of Richmond. Grant directed the 
campaign in person, but Meade remained in direct control 
of the Army of the Potomac. The Northern soldiers, num- 
bered one hundred and twenty thousand, to whom Lee 
could oppose only seventy thousand men. On May 5 the 
two armies came together in the Wilderness, not far from 
the fatal field of Chancellorsville. For two days (May 5, 6, 
1864) a terrible contest prevailed, and then Grant moved 
by his left to Spottsylvania Court House, and here again a 
fearful conflict raged in the woods and clearings (May 10- 
12). Then again by a flank march Grant led his army first 
to the North Anna and then to Cold Harbor, on the batde 
ground of the Peninsular Campaign. At the latter place 
there was nearly continuous fighting for eleven days (May 
31 to June 12). Then Grant, unable to advance, transferred 
his army to the James. But there Lee again forestalled 
him, and occupied Petersburg on the Appomattox. These 
bloody conflicts cost the Union army sixty thousand men, 
to fourteen thousand for the Confederates. The Federal 
government refilled Grant's shattered ranks; Sherman 



Nashville, 
December, 
1864. 

Baffles and 
Leaders; 
IV, 440; 
Dodge's 
P'ieiv, 
293-301- 



The 

Wilderness 
campaign, 
1864. 

Baffles and 
I eaders, 

IV, 97; 
Dodge's 
/ 'lew, 
197-222, 
244-254- 



Northern 
prisoners in 
the South. 



494 



The Civil War 



368 



moved northwards ; Thomas destroyed the Confederate 
army in the West, and there was no source from which the 
Confederates could replace their losses. Grant, seeing clearly 
the exhaustion of the fighting population of the South, re- 
fused to permit any more exchanges of prisoners, declaring 
that a northern man who died in the horrible prison pens 




Libby Prison 



of the South laid down his life for the nation's cause equally 
with the man who was killed on the field of battle. Toward 
the close of the conflict, the Southerners suffered great hard- 
ships, even the soldiers in the ranks of the army opposing 
Grant in Northern Virginia could not be supplied with vege- 
tables. They were attacked by scurvy, which dreadful dis- 
ease also accounted for the death of many Northern captives 
in Southern prisons. 



[864] 



Sheridan's Valley Campaign 



495 



369. Sheridan's Valley Campaign, 1864- — Grant now 
besieged Lee in his lines at Petersburg. Gradually the ever- 
incre-ising pressure became unbearable, and Lee sought to 
divert Grant from his purpose by an attack on the Union 
capital. Detaching one of his ablest subordinates, Jubal 
Early, he directed him to penetrate the Shenandoah val- 
ley and seize Washington. Early reached the defenses 
of Washington, but delaying the attack, was detained long 
enough by a hastily levied force to enable two army corps 
to reach Washington from the James. The Confederates 
then retired into the valley. To combat Early, Grant gave 
Sheridan forty thousand men with orders to devastate the 
valley so that no Confederate force could march through it. 
The campaign which followed saw each army successful in 
turn. Finally, Sheridan obtained the upper hand, drove the 
Confederates back, and destroyed everything eatable that 
could be found. He then rejoined Grant at Petersburg 
(November, 1864). 

370. Great Britain and the Confederate Cruisers In the 

earlier years of the war, a few Southern vessels ran the 
blockade and began the destruction of Northern commerce 
on the ocean. The most important of these were the 
Sumter and the Florida, the latter a British-built vessel 
which was converted into a man-of-war at Mobile. The 
most famous of the Confederate cruisers, however, never 
entered a Southern port. This was the Alabama, built in 
England, on the Mersey, and permitted to go to sea by 
the British government, notwithstanding the protests of the 
American minister at London, Charles Francis Adams. After 
a most destructive career, the Alabama was finally sunk off 
Cherbourg, by the United States ship Kearsarge, commanded 
by Captain Winslow (June 19, 1864). The two vessels were 
of about the same size and armament ; but the guns of the 
Kearsarge were better aimed than those of her opponent, 
and the powder of the Alabama was so defective that such 
of her shot as reached the Kearsarge did little damage. 

The Confederates also contracted for the construction 



Sheridan in 
the Valley, 
1864. 

Battles and 
Leaders, 
IV, 500; 
Dodge's 
View, 
252-254, 
263-278. 



The 

Confederate 

cruisers. 

Maclay's 

Nazy, II, 

553-561. 



Kearsarge 

and 

Alabama. 

Maclay's 

Navy, II, 

562-573. 



496 



The Civil War 



[§371 



The 

Confederate 

rams. 



The 
Shenandoah. 



Election of 
1864. 

Stanwood's 
Presidency. 



of two powerful ironclad rams in England. The British 
government showed no desire to seize them before comple- 
tion, and informed Adams that it could not interfere. The 
American minister thereupon wrote to Earl Russell, the 
British foreign minister : " It would be superfluous for me 
to point out that this is war." But the English government 
had already awakened to the danger of the position and had 
seized the vessels. 

The last of the Confederate cruisers to keep the seas was 
the Shetiandoah. Coaling at Melbourne, she sailed for the 
northern Pacific and there destroyed the American whaling 
fleet after the surrender of Lee and Johnston. The inaction 
of the British government on all these occasions aroused 
intense resentment in the United States, and became the 
subject of negotiation and arbitration. 

371. Lincoln's Re-election, 1864 In the Northern states 

were to be found many persons who were actively opposed 
to the further prosecution of the war. These were mostly 
Democrats, and they nominated General McClellan for the 
presidency. The extremists among the Republicans, who 
thought the administration was not sufficiently vigorous in 
its policy, especially as to slavery, nominated John C. Fre- 
mont. Lincoln was nominated by a convention composed 
of Republicans and of those Northern Democrats who were 
heartily in favor of the maintenance of the Union. The 
convention placed a Democrat, Andrew Johnson, a Union 
man from Tennessee, on the ticket with Lincoln, as candi- 
date for the vice-presidency. This convention favored the 
vigorous prosecution of the war and a continuance of a 
national policy as to public improvements. Fremont with- 
drew ; the Democrats carried three states, — New Jersey, 
Delaware, and Kentucky ; Lincoln and Johnson were elected 
by two hundred and twelve electoral votes out of a total of 
two hundred and thirty-three, their majority in the popular 
vote being more than four hundred thousand. The people 
of the North had decided by an overwhelming vote that the 
war should be fought to the end. Preparations were at 



ii] 



The Surrender at Appomattox 



497 



once made for its prosecution on a larger scale than ever 
before. The Union army steadily increased in size until May, 
1865, when over a million men were on its muster rolls. 
For the South, any such display of vigor was out of the 
question. The Confederacy was a shell : there were no 
more white men to be forced into the ranks; there were no 
more arms or military equipments ; there was hardly food 
enough at the front for the soldiers already in the field. The 
Congress at Richmond passed a bill for the employment of 
slaves as soldiers ; it was proposed to arm at least one regi- 
ment with pikes. 

372. The Surrender at Appomattox, 1865. — ■ A^ soon as it 
was possible to move, the Northern soldiers began the final 
campaign of the war. Grant had now one hundred and 



Appomattox, 
April, 1865. 
Baltics and 
Leaders, 



twenty-five thousand men to Lee's sixty thousand. On the first IV, 708. 
day of April, 1865, Sheridan, with a strong force of cavalry j/°J^^ 
and infantry, gained a position at Five Forks which com- 310-319. 
manded the roads to the rear of Richmond and Petersburg, 
and Lee could not drive him back. Lee therefore withdrew 
his army from his works and endeavored to escape by the 
valley of the Appomattox to the mountains, in the hope, per- 
haps, of combining his troops with the force under Johnston's 
command. At last, the Northern soldiers were too quick 
for him. Sheridan, with the cavalry and the Fifth Corps, 
outmarched the Confederates ; the remainder of the Army 
of the Potomac pressed on their flank and rear. On April 
7, 1865, the van of the starving army of northern Virginia 
reached the vicinity of Appomattox Court House. A body 
of dismounted Union cavalry barred the way. The Con- 
federates deployed to brush aside this obstacle, when the 
cavalrymen, withdrawing to one side, disclosed an infantry 
line of battle. Farther progress was impossible, and Lee 
surrendered (April 9, 1865). The terms given to the South- 
erners were singularly liberal : the Confederates were to lay 
down their arms and cease from acts of hostility. Later on 
an attempt was made to punish the politicians who had led 
the South to secession and ruin, but that was abandoned. 



498 



The Civil War 



[§374 



Assassina- 
tion of 
Lincoln 



Cost of the 
war. 
Dodge's 
View, 
ch. Ixi. 



373. Assassination of Lincoln, April 14, 1865. — On April 
14, the people of the North were aglow with enthusiasm 
over the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee's army ; 
on the morning of the 15th, they were plunged into a depth 
of gloom such as had never been known in the history of the 
United States. On the evening of the 14th, Lincoln was 
shot by a crazed sympathizer with the cause of secession 
and slavery, and an attempt was also made on Seward's 
life. With Lincoln perished the one man able and willing 
to restrain the Northern extremists. Andrew Johnson be- 
came President, and the policy of the government soon 
underwent a great change (§ 380). 

374. Cost of the War. — The War for the Union cost the 
nation, North and South, the lives of nearly a million men : 
about ninety-five thousand Northern soldiers were killed on 
the field of battle, or were fatally wounded and died in hospi- 
tals ; one hundred and eighty thousand more succumbed 
to disease while on the army rolls. To these figures must be 
added those who died from accident, disappeared perma- 
nently, or died in Southern prisons or in consequence of dis- 
ease or wounds contracted while in the service ; the total of 
those who perished from all these causes is not far from one 
half a million ; about as many more Southerners perished 
from similar causes. Hundreds of thousands more con- 
tracted disorders or received wounds while in the service, 
which did not lead directly to death but which shortened 
life or made it wretched. The total money cost of the war to 
the Union government was about three and one half thousand 
million dollars — excluding expenses incurred by states and 
municipalities, which amounted, in all probability, at least 
to three hundred millions more. Adding to this the amount 
paid and to be paid in pensions to those who risked their 
lives and the well-being of their families for the Union cause, 
and the amount of private property destroyed during the 
conflict, the war for the Union cost not less than ten thou- 
sand million dollars. 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 499 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 334-345- The Beginning of Civil Strife 

a. Do you consider that Tincoln or Washington best represents 
American life? 

d. Upon what premises did Lincoln base his conclusion that " the 
Union is much older than the Constitution"? 

c. Give as many facts as possible to support the statement, " in the 
end they collapsed as no other conquered people have done in historical 
times." 

J. What is meant by the statement, " there are few things, however, 
so unreliable as statistics"? 

e. Why did the Confederates have "superior marching qualities"? 
/. Compare the uprising of the Northern and the Southern people. 

In which section was there greater unanimity? 

g. Draw an imaginary picture of what might have happened had 
the " border states " seceded. 

/i. Compare the war policies of the North and the South. Was it 
possible for the South to have pursued a different policy? 

i. The national banking system: why was it established? Describe 
it. What changes might now be made to adapt it to present condi- 
tions? 

y. Is it true that the blockade " was the chief factor " in the defeat 
of the South? Give your reasons. 

§§ 346, 347, 349- The Theater of War 

a. Draw three maps showing (i) the theater of war as a whole, 
(2) the East, (3) the West (Dodge's BinPs-eye Vieiv). Describe by 
recitation, lines of communication and lines of defense. 

b. Draw two maps, one representing the theater of war in \'irginia 
during the Revolution, the other, during the Civil War. Enter fully 
upon each, name and date of battles; what points of similarity and 
dissimilarity strike you? 

§§ 350> 37°- Relations with Great Britain 

a. Do you consider the bitterness of feeling towards Great Britain 
justifiable? Give your reasons. Has Great Britain done anything 
since 1865 to lessen this feeling? 

b. Why were " free workingmen all the world over " interested in 
the struggle between the North and the South? 

c. Who formulates the rules of International Law? What is meant 
by " according belligerent rights " ? How does it differ from " recogni- 



500 The Civil War 

tion of independence "? Why were both Great Britain and France 
opposed to nationalism in the United States? 

d. What argument in favor of democracy do you find in § 350? 

§§ 359> 360. Slave Emancipation 

a. (i) Trace in detail Lincoln's policy as to slavery. (2) Describe 
carefully the position of the Republican party as to slavery. (3) Was 
the war begun to free the slaves? (4) Would you have advocated 
war in 1861 to secure immediate emancipation? (The first three of 
these questions may be used as Topics for Individual Investigation.) 

b. Discuss the constitutionality of the Emancipation Proclamation. 
Is there any limit to the President's war powers? In how far do the 
proclamations of a President have legal force? 

§§ Z^2>f 371- Northern Opposition 

a. Compare the mode of recruiting during the Revolutionary War 
and during the Civil War. 

b. Why was Andrew Johnson nominated for Vice-President? 

c. Compare the votes cast in 1856, in i860, and in 1864. What 
changes of sentiment can you discern? 

d. Does the Constitution authorize Congress to draft soldiers? 

General Questions 

Subjects for special study in secondary authorities: (i) assign to 
each student a campaign or a battle to be studied in Dodge's Bird's- 
Eye Vie%i) and in Battles and Leaders, or in other convenient books; the 
report should include a map or plan of the campaign or battle; (2) the 
part played by the "Old Northwest" in the war; (3) the part played 
by the "border states," or by any one of them; (4) development dur- 
ing the Civil War of the railroad system, or the action of the homestead 
law, or the exploitation of the mineral resources, or the progress of 
mechanical invention, or industrial expansion; (5) the attitude towards 
the United States of the leading nations of Europe; (6) the questions 
of international law which grew out of the Civil War. 



CHAPTER XIV 

RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1877 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. ■ — ■ Wilson's Division and Reunion, 254-287 ; 
Johnston's American Politics, chs. xxi-xxiii ; Garner and Lodge's 
United Stoics ; Stan wood's History of the Presidency. 

Special Acxounts. — Lalor's Cyclopcedia (articles by Johnston); 
Dunning's Reconstruction ; Rhodes's United States, VI, VII ; D. R. 
Dewey's Finaiicial History of the United States ; E. E. Sparks's 
National Development ; * Herbert's Why the Solid South ; Pearson's 
An American Railroad Builder ; Paxson's Last American Frontier ; 
Appleton's Annual Cyclopcedia. 

Sources. — -Carl Schurz's Reminiscences ; J. G. Blaine's Txventy 
Years of Congresz ; John Sherman's Reco''ections ; Hugh McCuUoch's 
Men and JMeasures ; J. D. Richardson s Messages and Papers of the 
Presidents ; J. B. Moore's Digest of International ZrtTi^ ; MacDonald's 
Documentary Source Book. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 241-253. 

Illustrative Material. — Whittier's Detnocracy ; Tourgee's A FooPs 
Errand anA Bricks Without Straw ; Hale's J/n Merriam^s Scholars ; 
Page's Red Rock, 

RECONSTRUCTION, 1865-1877 

375. Return to Peace Conditions. — The close of the war Problems of 
brought new conditions and new problems that had to be P^ace, 1865. 

'■ Dunning s 

faced and settled at once. The military and naval forces Reconstmc- 
must be pardy disbanded at the first opportunity and the f'"". i^^s. 
wounded and disabled Union soldiers and sailors and their 
families cared for. Moreover, the process of emancipation 
must be completed, the negroes protected in their new free- 
dom, and the constitutional and political relations of the 
seceded states carefully regulated. Finally, the financial 

501 



1, n. 



502 Reconstruction [§ 376 

obligations of the war had to be met and an enormous debt 
paid off or reduced as soon as possible. These matters 
were pressing ; but on many of them it was nearly im- 
possible to reach an agreement. The government and the 
people, during the war, had been spending money with the 
greatest lavishness and the stimulating legislation of those 
years had brought about a feverish activity in manufacturing 
and agricultural pursuits. Some way must be found to 
bring back the nation to the slower-paced ways of ordinary 
life. 

376. The Army and the Navy. — Before the surrender at 
Appomattox, when the exhaustion of the South had become 
apparent, the recruiting offices in the North had been closed, 
and no further enlistments allowed. The discharging of the 
soldiers was begun as soon as possible after Lee's surrender 
Reduction of and was pushed on with a vigorous hand. No less than 
the army. 8oo,ooo soldiers were mustered out of the service within six 
months and by Christmas, 1865, only 50,000 remained 
■ on the government's rolls. This number was still further 
diminished, as the years went by, until at one time there 
were only 25,000 regular soldiers in the service of the 
United States. The militia organizations of the several 
states were maintained on a better basis than before the 
war, there being more uniformity in drill and much better 
discipline. Military traditions were kept alive by the organ- 
ization of societies as the " Grand Army of the Republic ' 
and the " Society of the Army of the Cumberland." A so- 
ciety of officers called the " Military Order of the I,oyal 
Legion of the United States " has also been formed. 
Reduction of The reduction of the navy also was vigorously pursued, — ■ 
the navy. sailors Were discharged by the thousands and the ships tied 
up to the wharves or sold to private persons. For years the 
navy steadily declined in numbers and efficiency until the 
United States had no vessels fit to cope with the modern 
ships of some of the smaller American powers. In 1886, 
the first ship of the new navy was put in commission and 
others followed rapidly. These proving serviceable, more 



i86 = 



The War Debt 



503 



vessels were built until a small but effective naval force was 
organized. 

The Union soldiers and sailors returned to private life, The Pension 
honored and respected by all. Mindful of its obligations, System. 
Congress provided pensions for those veterans whom wounds 
or the inevitable hardships of military service had disabled 
from earning a livelihood. It also made provision for those 
dependent upon them. The expense of this pension system 
in 1913 was one hundred and eighty million dollars. 

377. The "War Debt. — At the close of the war the gov- Government 
ernment was paying interest to the amount of one hundred bonds and 

. taxes. 

and fifty million dollars in each year, the debt " or bonds " 
then amounting to two and three quarter billion dollars. In 
addition to this there was paper money to the amount of 
nearly five hundred millions more. The government bonds 
bore a very high rate of interest. The reduction of the 
miUtary and naval forces enabled the government to begin 
redeeming the bonds at once, so that before the end of the 
year (1865) thirty-five millions had been paid. The war 
taxes, however, weighed heavily on industry. As soon as 
possible these were either lowered or abolished, thus dimin- 
ishing the income of the government. As this declined, the 
amount available for reducing the war debt decreased. In 
1868, the question of what should be done, came i*p in Con- 
gress. The bonds had been sold by the government at a 
very low rate in the midst of the Civil War, for the number 
of persons with money who expected that they would be 
paid was not large. The government had also been obliged 
to receive its own depreciated money for them, although it 
promised to repay in coin. Now, as in Washington's time, 
it was argued that the holders of the bonds should be repaid Act to restore 
something less than the face value, although perhaps not as ^^^^J^"^'"^ 
httle as they had paid for them. Now, as in the earlier 
time (§ 195) the necessity of protecting the government's 
credit outweighed all such considerations. Congress, there- 
fore, passed an act (1869) "to restore the public credit" 
pledging itself to redeem the public obligations in coin at 



504 



Reconstruction 



[§378 



Status of the 

seceded 

states. 



Were they 
" states ' 
" terri- 
tories " ? 



or 



Lincoln's 
reconstruc- 
tion policy. 



their face value, but the kind of coin, whether gold or silver, 
was not specified. At once, the credit of the government 
improved. The old bonds bearing high rates of interest 
were replaced by those bearing a much lower rate. This 
set free large sums of money which could be used to pay 
off bonds outright, and in ten years' time nearly one bil- 
lion dollars' worth of bonds were thus redeemed and extin- 
guished. 

378. Problems of Reconstruction. — The outcome of the 
Civil War was really to establish a new nation, but the exact 
position of the seceded states in the nation was very in- 
definite. When the war began, Lincoln, and the Republicans 
generally, had denied the possibility of a state seceding and 
leaving the Union. During the war, the President had 
issued the Emancipation Proclamation (§ 359). This cer- 
tainly had not abolished slavery in any state where it had a 
legal existence ; but as a matter of fact it had set free great 
numbers of negroes in some of the Southern states. To 
settle the slavery question forever Congress passed the 
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing 
slavery throughout the United States. This was now (1865) 
before the state legislatures for adoption. What was the 
relation of the states that had seceded or had tried to secede 
to the Union and to this amendment? Was it true that 
" states " were indestructible whether in or out of the Union? 
Or had rebellion reduced the Southern states to the stand- 
ing of territories? If the former was the case, the consent 
of some of the states which had attempted to secede was 
necessary for the ratification of the amendment ; if the 
latter was the case, why should not Congress impose the 
amendment on those states as the price of readmission to 
the Union? 

379. Lincoln's Southern Policy. — • Lincoln set forth his 
ideas on the subject of reconstruction in an address which 
he delivered on April n, 1865, three days before his 
assassination. He thought that the " question whether the 
seceded states, so called, are in the Union or out of it " was 



[865] 



Johnsori's Reconstruction Policy 



S^S 



" bad as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at 
all — a mere pernicious abstraction." The states in question 
were " out of their proper practical relation with the Union," 
and the sole object of those in authority should .be " to again 
get them into that proper practical relation." He believed 
that it was possible to restore such relation " without 
deciding or even considering whether these states have ever 
been out of the Union." Acting on these ideas, he had 
previously (December, 1863) issued a proclamation offering 
pardon to all persons, except certain classes, who should 
take an oath to support the Constitution and the laws and 
proclamations as to the emancipation of slaves. He further 
promised that as soon as one tenth of the voters in any one 
state should take this oath and set up a republican form of 
government in that state, the federal government would 
recognize it as the legal state government. In effect this 
would amount to handing over the administiation of the 
seceded states to the old Union ' minority in each one of 
them. The question of admission of senc^.tors and repre- 
sentatives from the states belonged to Congress and not to 
the executive, and to Congress also belonged the decision 
of all questions as to counting the electoral votes for Presi- 
dent and Vice-president. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Ten- 
nessee were reorganized on this basis in 1864; but Congress 
refused to receive and count the electoral votes of Louisi- 
ana and Tennessee in the autumn of that year. 

380. Johnson's Reconstruction Policy, 1865. — The great 
mass of the people of the North had cc.ne to feel confidence 
in Lincoln's judgment and he possessed incomparable tact 
in dealing with men. His death placed in the White 
House Andrew Johnson in whose judgment a very large 
portion of the northern people had no confidence and who 
was utterly devoid of tact. Johnson was a Union man 
from Tennessee who had suffered greatly at the hands of 
the Confederates. His motives were excellent, his patriotism 
without question, and his judgment was usually sound ; but 
he obscured these good qualities and ruined his influence 



Dunning's 
Reconstruc- 
tion, 14-16; 
Contempo- 
raries, IV, 
No. 145. 



President 
Johnson. 
Dunning's 
Reconstruc- 
tion, ch. iii. 



5o6 



Reconstruction 



[§381 



His ideas on 
reconstruc- 
tion. Con- 
temporaries, 
IV, No. 148. 



Relation of 
freed slaves 
to the south- 
ern whites. 



Vagrancy [ 
laws. Cun- 
ning's Recon- 
struction, 
55-57; Con- 
temporaries, 
VI, No. 151. 



with the people by coarse, bitter invective against those 
who did not agree with him. President Johnson now pro- 
ceeded to reorganize the other Southern state governments. 
In general, he followed the lines of Lincoln's policy, but 
required in addition submission to the laws of the United 
States relating to slavery. He went way beyond Lincoln 
in excepting from pardon practically all persons in the 
Southern states who possessed much property ; but he did 
not extend the right to vote to the freedmen. Most of the 
seceded states had been reorganized on this basis when 
Congress came together in December, 1S65. The new 
state governments had joined the old in accepting the 
Thirteenth Amendment which was declared in force in 
December, 1865. 

381. The Freedmen. — Slavery was now at an end through- 
out the United States. Even in Kentucky and Delaware 
there were no longer any slaves although these states had 
not been included in the Emancipation Proclamation, had 
not freed the slaves within their borders by state law, and 
had not ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. Nevertheless, 
neither the whites nor the negroes in the old slave states 
realized the new conditions of affairs. The freedmen had 
exaggerated ideas as to what freedom meant. They thought 
they would no longer have to work for the whites — not 
even for wages. They thought the government would give 
each freedman " forty acres and a mule," and henceforth 
each one would work for himself. In short, they regarded 
themselves as on a footing of equality, economically and 
socially, with their former masters. The whites held very 
different ideas. They acknowledged that slavery was at an 
end, but they still believed that it was the negro's place to 
work for the white man. This led to the passage of 
" vagrancy laws " by some of the Southern states. These 
laws provided that " persons of color " who would not work 
\should be classed as " vagrants," and fined, put in prison, 
or " hired out " to any person who would pay the fine. 
In Mississippi, a tax of one dollar per head was levied on 



1865] The Freedmen's Bureau 507 

every person of color, and those who did not pay were 
classed as vagrants. In some states, colored persons were 
forbidden to own or to have in their possession bowie- 
knives, firearms, or ammunition. Had the vagrancy laws 
and similar laws been carried out, forced labor would have 
been re-established throughout the South. 

382. Congress and the South. — When the new Congress Northern 
met in December, 1865, the northern radicals were in con- ""^dicals. 
trol in both Houses. They were led by two uncompromis- 
ing opponents of the Old South, — Thaddeus Stevens of 
Pennsylvania and Charles Sumner of Massachusetts. When 
the roll was called, the Southern states were omitted and it 
soon became evident that there was a great difference of 
opinion between the radical Republicans in Congress and 
President Johnson on the matter of reconstruction. The 
Republicans had a two-thirds majority in both Houses and 
were able to override the President's veto unless he could 
gain a few sympathizers. The radicals soon adopted the 
theory that secession had suspended for the Southern states 
all federal laws : they were practically in the situation of Congres- 
territories and could only be readmitted to the enjoyment of ^''^"^'. '"^'^°"" 

■' struction. 

the privileges of states by Congress. Instead of calming the Dunning's 
spirit of hostihty to his measures, Johnson denounced Con- Reconstruc- 
gress, declaring that it had no legal existence as the southern /^"^^ ** 
members had not been allowed to take their places. The 
vagrancy laws and the killing of many negroes in a riot in 
New Orleans convinced thousands of northern voters that 
the former Confederates were determined to destroy the 
effects of the victories of the Union armies. In the election 
of 1868, they rallied to the Republican cause and returned 
that party to Congress by a large majority. The radicals 
also secured control of nearly all the state legislatures in the 
North. 

383. The Freedmen's Bureau. — Congress had established Estabiish- 
this bureau under the direction of the War Department, to '^'^fjl^^^^^ 
care for the sick and helpless freedmen. Besides doing Bureau. 
this, the officers of the bureau did what they could to settle 



5o8 



Reconstruction 



[§384 



"Swinging 
round the 
circle." 



Civil Rights 
Bill. 



Fourteenth 
Amendment. 



disputes between the southern whites and their former slaves. 
They did much to soften the severity of the operation of 
the forced labor acts, and commended themselves and the 
bureau to the radical party in Congress. In February, 1866, 
a bill was passed continuing the bureau and greatly enlarging 
the field of its activity. This was opposed to Johnson's re- 
construction policy. He vetoed it and enough members of 
Congress were still friendly to him to make it impossible to 
pass the bill over his veto. In the following September 
(1866) Johnson made a stump speaking tour from Washing- 
ton to Chicago by way of New York and back again through 
Indiana, — "swinging round the circle," as it was called. 
Excited by the throngs that greeted him, and mistaking re- 
spect for the presidential office for personal recognition, he 
used most intemperate language as to his opponents. This 
hurt him greatly with moderate and sober-minded men and 
the breach between him and the Republican majority in 
Congress widened as the months went by. In July, 1866, 
Congress passed another Freedmen's Bureau Bill. Like the 
earher one this continued the bill for two years. It also 
provided for the education of the blacks out of the proceeds 
of confiscated southern lands and for the enforcement of the 
rights of the freedmen by the army. Johnson promptly ve- 
toed this bill and it was at once passed over his veto. The 
bureau was later continued by other acts and was not finally 
abolished until 1872. 

384. The Fourteenth Amendment. — In the same year 
(1866) Congress passed a Civil Rights Bill for the protection 
of the freedmen giving jurisdiction in cases under it to the 
federal courts alone. Johnson thought that this was clearly 
unconstitutional, but Congress passed it over his veto. The 
question of the constitutionality of the measure was set at 
rest by the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment which 
passed Congress in June, 1866, The first section of this 
amendment provided that " all persons born or naturalized 
in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, 
are citizens of the United States and of the states wherein 



1867] The Reconstruction Acts 509 

they reside," and forbade the states to abridge in any way the 
rights of citizens. The first part of this section is especially 
noteworthy because it overruled the opinion of the Supreme 
Court in the Dred Scott case (§ 314). 

The second section of the amendment provided that rep- The freed- 
resentation in Congress should be apportioned among the ""^" enfran 

,. , . . ^\ , , , chised. 

states accordmg to their respective numbers, and that when- 
ever any state denied the franchise to any citizens, except 
for " participation in rebellion or other crime," the repre- 
sentation of that state shall be diminished accordingly. This 
section was adopted because the abolition of slavery had 
given added representation in Congress to the old slave 
states, since the " federal ratio," which counted a slave as 
only three-fifths of a white man in apportioning representa- 
tion, no longer existed, as there were no longer any slaves. 
It seemed very important that the freedmen should be 
allowed to vote or that representation in Congress should 
be taken away from any state that refused to permit them to 
vote. The third section of the amendment excluded from 
the national services all persons who, " having previously 
taken an oath ... to support the Constitution of the 
United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or re- 
bellion against the same ; " but Congress by a two-thirds 
vote might remove this disability. Finally, the fourth section 
guaranteed the validity of the federal debt, and declared all 
debts incurred in the support of " insurrection or rebellion 
against the United States " to be null and void. The Northern 
states agreed to this amendment, but the consent of several 
Southern states was also required to make up the requisite 
three fourths of all the states. They all rejected it except 
Tennessee. 

385. The Reconstruction Acts, 1867. — When Congress 
met in December, 1866, it was known that the Southern 
states had rejected the Fourteenth Amendment and that Reconstruo 
the Northern states had given a hearty approval to the l!^JJ„°J„^ 
congressional plan of reconstruction by electing a strong states. 
Republican majority to Congress in the preceding Novem- 



5IO Reconstruction [§385 

ber. The radicals, therefore, hastened to complete the 
work with or without President Johnson's consent. On 
March 2, 1867, the Reconstruction Act became law not- 
withstanding the presidential veto. According to this law 
and supplemental acts which were passed by the new Con- 
gress, the seceded states, except Tennessee, were formed 
into five military districts. Each of these districts was to 
be ruled by an army officer who should be assigned to that 
duty by the President. These military commanders were 
to respect such state laws only as were not hostile to the 
rights of the freed negroes and were to register as voters 
all men — black and white — of twenty-one years and up- 
wards who had lived in the state one year and would not 
be excluded from the franchise by the proposed Fourteenth 
Amendment. These conditions practically took the right 
to vote away from the old white population of the South 
on account of their having adhered to the Confederacy and 
gave it to the blacks, the white immigrants from the North, 
and to the few southern whites who sided with the freedmen ; 
in other words it practically disfranchised the old white vot- 
ers of most of the Southern states. 

The voting list having been made up as just described, 
the voters in any one state might elect delegates to a con- 
vention to frame a state constitution on the basis of man- 
hood suffrage — excepting those excluded by the proposed 
amendment. This constitution being ratified by the regis- 
tered voters, they might elect a legislature which should 
ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. All these things being 
done to the satisfaction of the federal authorities, the repre- 
Seven states sentatives of the state would be admitted to Congress and 
the process of reconstruction would be complete, as to that 
state. The federal government reserved the right to inter- 
fere in any stage of the proceedings and to order the whole 
process to be gone through with again from the beginning. 
Under the provisions of this act seven of the seceded states 
— North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Lousi- 
ana, Arkansas, and Alabama — were readmitted to the 



readmitted 
»o the Union. 



1867] Impeachment of President Johnson 511 

Union. Tennessee had already come in. Virginia, Mis- 
sissippi, and Texas were still excluded because they would 
not recognize the political equality of the freed slaves. 

386. The Tenure of Office Act. — Besides reconstructing Power of 
the Southern states, the radical majority in Congress deter- 
mined to reconstruct the relations of the executive and 
legislative branches of the national government. According 
to the Constitution, the President had power to appoint to 
office " by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate " 
and had power to fill vacancies that might happen during 
the recess of the Senate by granting commissions which 
should expire at the end of the next session. These phrases 
were undoubtedly vague as to the power of removal. Could 
the President remove any official appointed by him without 
obtaining or even asking the consent of the Senate? Or 
was he obliged to obtain its consent to removals as well as 
to appointments? Up to this time the Presidents had re- 
moved at will and had taken their chances as to the con- 
firmation of officials to replace those whom they removed. 
Congress now determined to assert the power of the legis- 
lative branch and did this by passing the Tenure of Office 
Act over Johnson's veto (March, 1867). This law prohibited 
him from removing any civil officer, except with the consent 
of the Senate. Another law forbade him to issue military 
orders except through the general commanding the army. 
Johnson resisted the passage of this law as well as he could, 
for the Constitution expressly states that the President is 
commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United 
States, but he was powerless to prevent its enactment for 
the radicals in Congress easily overrode his veto. 

387. Impeachment of President Johnson. — Edwin M. 
Stanton, Secretary of War, was a " War Democrat." He 
had ruled supreme in the military department dunng the 
last years of Lincoln's administration and had been con- 
tinued in office bv Johnson. The two disagreed entirely as 
to the treatment of the southerners. In 1867, the President 
demanded Stanton's resignation. This being refused, John- 



512 



Reconstruction 



[§387 



The Im- 
peachment 
trial, 1867. 
Dunning's 
Reconstnic- 
tinn, 99-106. 



son suspended him from ofifice and designated General 
Grant as Secretary of War ad interim. When Congress met, 
the Senate refused to consent to Stanton's dismissal and 
Grant left the War Department. Johnson now removed 
Stanton and appointed a temporary secretary. For this 
and also for his intemperate language in ridiculing Congress, 




President Johnson 



iig the news of his acquittal 



the House of Representatives impeached President Johnson 
of " high crimes and misdemeanors " in ofifice. The trial 
lasted from March to May, 1868, when the Senate failed to 
convict him by a vote of thirty-five ayes to nineteen noes, 
— this being one vote less than the necessary two-thirds 
required by the Constitution for conviction. It is now 
generally held that Johnson was right in his interpretation 
of the Constitution as to the President's power of removal. 
Moreover, it appeared that Stanton had been appointed be- 
fore the date set by the Tenure of Office Act and therefore 



1867] Alaska, St. Thomas, and Santo Domingo 513 



was not protected by its provisions. Although the majority 
lacked only one vote of the number necessary for conviction, 
it is said that several other senators would have voted "No" 
had it been necessary. 

388. The French in Mexico. — In the midst of the Civil 
War, while the United States was powerless to enforce the 
Monroe Doctrine (§ 259), Great Britain, France, and Spain 
united to compel Mexico to pay her national debt. Great 
Britain and Spain remained members of this league for a 
short time only. The French, left to themselves, overran 
Mexico, and placed Maximilian, an Austrian archduke, on 
the throne of that country as emperor. Thirty-five thousand 
French troops supported him and prevented the Mexicans 
from driving him out of the land. With the end of the 
Civil War, the situation changed and Mr. Seward, who was 
still Secretary of State, reminded the French minister at 
Washington that his government desired the removal of the 
French soldiers from Mexico (1865). As they did not go, 
there was at one time a project of sending discharged Union 
and Confederate veterans over the border to aid the 
Mexicans in freeing their country from the Frenchmen. 
This plan fell through, but a body of American troops was 
actually marched towards the frontier. Events in Europe 
made it necessary for the French emperor to have all his sol- 
diers at home. He recalled them ; Maximilian, remaining, was 
seized and executed by the Mexicans, who again established 
a government that was Republican in form. 

389. Alaska, St. Thomas, and Santo Domingo. — The 
Civil War not only aroused a speculative spirit in the people, 
it turned their attention to the outer world and gave rise to 
schemes of annexation. The most important of these was 
the purchase of Alaska from Russia for seven million two 
hundred thousand dollars. The history of this affair is 
still obscure. It appears that Russia offered to sell Alaska 
to the United States, and the treaty was signed in March, 
1867. There was no money in the treasury for such an 
object and the people took very little interest in it. The 



Mexico and 
the French. 



The 

Mexican 
RepubUc re- 
established. 



Purchase of 
Alaska, 1867. 



514 



Reconstruction 



[§390 



St. Thomas 
and Santo 
Domingo. 



General 
Grant 
elected 
President 



first transcontinental railroad to California was still unfinished. 
Alaska seemed a long way off and not much was known as 
to its natural resources and its fitness for habitation. The 
American people were grateful to Russia for her friendly 
attitude throughout the recent conflict, the money could be 
found, and the purchase was made. It is only within recent 
years that the natural resources of Alaska in gold, copper, 
coal, and timber have come to light. Now 
the good fortune of the United States in 
making this purchase is recognized. 

In 1867 and in 1869, projects were set 
on foot for the acquisition of the island of 
St. Thomas in the West Indies, from Den- 
mark, and for the annexation of Santo 
Domingo, which had been in the hands of 
its black inhabitants for three quarters of 
a century. Both schemes fell through, 
for the people were averse to having any 
more southern territory and a hurricane 
stripped St. Thomas bare of trees and 
almost of soil while the negotiations were 
proceeding. 

390. Election of 1868. — The Demo- 
cratic candidate for the presidency in 
1868 was Horatio Seymour. He had 
been governor of the state of New York, 
and had caused Lincoln much anxiety by 
his feeble support of the government's 
measures, and also by his open hostility displayed to some 
of them. In their platform the Democrats declared their 
approval of Johnson's plan of reconstruction. The National 
Union Republican Party nominated General Grant and de- 
clared for the policy set forth in the Reconstruction Acts. 
Upon these platforms and with these candidates there could 
be Httle doubt which side the voters of the North would 
take, nor could there be much doubt as to the preferences 
of those entitled to vote in the South. Virginia, Georgia, 




The Washington 
Monument 



iSyi] The Blacks and the Whites 515 

Mississippi, and Texas were still unreconstructed and could 
not take part in the election. The negroes formed the 
majority of voters in the other Southern states, and at this 
time their votes were counted. Out of two hundred and 
ninety-four electoral votes Grant received two hundred and 
fourteen. 

391 . The Fifteenth Amendment. — The Fourteenth Amend- 
ment was declared in force in July, 1868, and the election 
of Grant in the following November plainly indicated that the 
majority of the voters desired the completion of the process 
of reconstruction, as embodied in the recent acts of Congress 
and in the Fourteenth Amendment. In February, 1869, 
Congress added one more safeguard to the negroes' rights The 

as citizens by proposing the Fifteenth Amendment. This fifteenth 

.,_,., r . , , Amendment, 

provided that neither the federal government nor any state J869. 
government, north or south, could abridge the rights of 
citizens of the United States to the franchise "on account 
of race, color or previous condition of servitude." When 
this amendment was introduced it had contained the further 
requirement that the right to hold office should not be denied 
to any citizen of the United States ; but this clause had been 
stricken out while the matter was being considered by Con- 
gress. The ratification of this, as well as of the Four- 
teenth Amendment, was now made a condition of the read- 
mission of Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia to the 
Union. The Fifteenth Amendment was declared in force in 
March, 1870 ; but it was not until 1870 that the last of the 
states which had passed secession ordinances were restored 
to full rights. Meantime, since i860, Kansas, West Vir- 
ginia, Nevada, and Nebraska had been added to the Union. 
There were now (187 1) thirty-seven states in all. 

392. The Blacks and the Whites. — The enforcement of Scalawags, 
the radical policy of reconstruction placed the old slave ^^'P^^^'^^^,;^^ 
states under the rule of the negroes and their white allies, freedmen. 
Some of these were southern Unionists who generally be- Dunning's 
longed to the poorer families of the South ; others were ^■^'^"^'J^'^'^l^^ 
speculators who had come from the North, bent on making 181-190. 



5i6 



Reconstruction 



[§392 



Misgovern- 
nient. Con- 
temporaries, 
IV, No. 157. 



The Kii- 
Klux-Klan. 



fortunes on easy terms. The former were termed " scal- 
awags " by their more aristocratic white neighbors, the latter 
were called "carpet-baggers" from the name of the small 
satchel which they carried containing their personal be- 
longings. As soon as the negroes gained power, they passed 
laws giving themselves equal privileges with the whites in 
hotels and public places. What they really desired was 
social equality with the whites. As soon as this became 
evident, the southern whites deserted the freed men and 
before long most of the northerners returned home. This 
left but two parties in the South, the whites and the blacks, 
and the contest was no longer a political one, but a racial one. 
In the early years, the negroes filled the legislatures 
and fell under the influence of designing white men who 
thought they saw a chance of gaining riches from the ex- 
ploitation of the great resources of the South. Many of the 
schemes that were proposed were commendable in them- 
selves, but were out of the question in the exhausted con- 
dition of the former Confederate States. There was no 
money in their treasuries and bonds were sold right and 
left to gain the needed funds. No less than one hundred 
and thirty million dollars' worth of new debts were authorized 
within a few years. Some of the money raised in this way 
went into the pockets of the " carpet-baggers," a good deal 
of it was wasted, and there was very little to show for this 

f^great expenditure. The southern whites now banded to- 
gether to free themselves from this thraldom. The only 

. way they could do this was to deprive the freed negroes of 
the right to vote. Secret societies of the whites, as the 
Knights of the White Cameha, and the Ku-Klux-Klan were 
organized to intimidate the blacks. The negroes were 
whipped and so cruelly ill-used that they feared to go to the 
polling places and political power passed away from them. 
It is noticeable that these outrages were more frequent in 
those portions of the South where the poor whites were most 
numerous and where the dread of the social equaUty of the 
blacks was more keen. 



1872] 



Relations with Great Britain 



517 



393. The End of Reconstruction. — Congress was obliged 
to exercise the great powers conferred on it by the recent 
amendments. It passed several laws, known in the South 
as the " Force Bills." These provided heavy penalties 
for the infraction of the amendments, and gave the federal 
courts exclusive jurisdiction of all such cases. By 1872 the 
condition of affairs had so far improved that Congress re- 
pealed or modified some of the more severe of these meas- 
ures. It also passed an Amnesty Act relieving many classes 
of Southerners from the disabilities laid upon them by the 
amendments and the reconstruction acts. In some states 
there was no improvement whatever. Occasionally there 
was great disorder, and often two rival governments con- 
tended for mastery. The federal authorities were frequently 
obliged to interfere and to send soldiers to maintain any 
semblance of order. Notwithstanding General Grant's 
desire for peace this discouraging condition of affairs con- 
tinued throughout his two terms of office as President. 

394. Relations with Great Britain. — The Northern peo- 
ple had never forgotten the action of the British government 
at the time of the "Trent affair" (§ 350), nor its inaction 
as to the Alabama and other Confederate vessels (§ 370). 
There were also other causes of irritation, especially a dis- 
pute as to the boundary in the extreme northwest, and as to 
the rights of American fishermen in Canadian waters. In 
1869 Reverdy Johnson, the American minister in London, 
negotiated a treaty on these matters, which was promptly 
rejected by the United States Senate. In January, 187 1, how- 
ever, the British government suggested that a joint commis- 
sion should meet at Washington to arrange some of the 
matters in controversy. The American government con- 
sented, on condition that the " Alabama dispute " should 
also be considered. The commissioners met at the federal 
capital, and concluded the Treaty of Washington (1871). 
According to this instrument, the matters in controversy were 
referred to courts of arbitration or to joint commissions, with 
the exception of the controversy as to the northwest bound- 



The Force 
Bills. 

Dunning's 
Reconstruc- 
tion, 184-186 



The 

Alabama 

dispute. 



Treaty of 

Washington 

1871. 



5i8 



Reconstruction 



395 



The North- 
western 
boundary. 



Geneva 

arbitration, 

1872. 



The Halifax 
award, 1877. 



ary, which was referred to the German Emperor as arbiter. 
This last was in regard to the boundary from the mainland 
on the eastern side of Vancouver Sound to the Pacific 
Ocean at the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. 
The point in dispute was especially over the ownership of 
St. Juan Island, which separated the two main channels. The 
matter was finally decided in favor of the United States 
(1872). 

The " Alabama claims " included all the disputes which 
had arisen out of the refusal of Great Britain to enforce 
the obligations of neutrals during the course of the Civil 
War. These were now referred to a court of arbitration, 
consisting of five members to be appointed, one each by the 
United States, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil. 
The tribunal was authorized to proceed on the assumption 
that a neutral was obliged to use " due diligence " to pre- 
vent its territory being made the basis of hostile expeditions 
or armaments against one of the belligerents ; but the British 
government was unwilling to admit that international prac- 
tice had imposed such obligations at the time of the Civil 
War. When the tribunal met at Geneva (1872), the United 
States suggested that Great Britain should be held respon- 
sible not only for the direct loss occasioned by her lack of 
due diligence, but also for the indirect damage caused by 
the prolongation of the conflict so far as it could be at- 
tributed to the action of the Confederate cruisers. The 
court rejected this claim for indirect damages, but held that 
the British government had not shown due diligence in 
permitting the escape of the Alabama, and in allowing the 
Shenandoah to fill her bunkers with coal at Melbourne. 
The court awarded the United States fifteen and one half 
million dollars, the British representative alone dissenting 
from this verdict. 

395. The Fisheries Dispute. — The Treaty of Washington 
also provided for the arbitration of a dispute between the 
United States, on the one hand, and Great Britain and 
Canada, on the other, as to the participation of Americans in 



1872] The Transcontinental Railroads 519 

the fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. 
Under what is known as the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, 
Canadian products were admitted into the United States 
free of duty, and American fishermen enjoyed considerable 
privileges in Canadian fisheries. During the Civil War, 
much irritation had been aroused by the facilities given to 
the Confederates in Canada. In 1866, therefore, the United 
States put an end to this treaty. The question of the 
fisheries thus came up again for adjustment. In 187 1, an 
agreement was reached by which the Americans should enjoy 
certain rights for twelve years and should pay something for 
these privileges, — the amount to be determined by a com- 
mission. This body met at Halifax in 1877. The Americans 
contended that the rights given them were worth very little ; 
the Canadians estimated them at about fourteen million 
dollars. By a vote of two to one, the commission awarded 
five and one half million dollars to Great Britain. This was 
paid, but when the time came to renew the treaty, the 
United States refused to prolong the arrangement for another 
term. Various attempts have been made to settle the fish- 
eries dispute, once for all ; but up to the present time (1913) 
no satisfactory arrangement has been made. 

396. The Transcontinental Railroads. — In the ten years The great 
after the Civil War, there was great activity in railroad 
building outside of the former Confederate States. In 1865, 
less than one thousand miles of new line were constructed ; 
in 1871 over seven thousand miles. Short lines of connecting 
railroads were brought under one management and the great 
systems began to take their present form ; the Pennsylvania 
was operated as one line from New York to Chicago and to 
St. Louis, and the New York Central and the Baltimore 
and Ohio had each its own line from the seaboard to the 
Great Lakes. This unification of lines of transportation was 
of great importance to the business interests of the country 
and to the people at large, because it greatly reduced the 
cost of carrying freight and thereby aided in extending com- 
fort and well-being to all. 



railroad 



t873] 



Panic of i8/j 



521 



The building of the first transcontinental system of rail- The Union 
roads attracted more attention at the time on account of the Pacific, 1869. 
difficulties and incidents connected with it and also because 
of the important political results that were almost certain to 
follow. It was so important, indeed, to have easy and cer- 
tain communication with the Pacific seaboard that the 
government gave the builders of this line a right of way 
through the national domain, great quantities of land along 
the road-bed and also guaranteed bonds to be issued by 
these railroads. Construction was begun at the same time 
from the Missouri westward and from San Francisco Bay 
eastward. The name of the eastern road, the Union Pacific, 
in itself expressed the importance of the enterprise. The 
lines were joined near Ogden, in Utah, in 1869, and the 
East and the West were united by a modern transportation 
system. Unfortunately, the enterprise had not attracted 

capitalists. To stimulate them to put their money into the^ ^ 

scheme, a construction company called the Credit Mobilier The 

had been formed. This company built the road and Credit 

Mobilier. 
received in payment money which the government had pro- 
vided. Some of the leaders in this company thought it was I 
desirable to interest members of Congress in it, so that the I 
government would not interfere with the carrying out of their 
plans. When these details became known, the people were 
gready incensed, and the public careers of several politicians 
were ruined. 

397. Panic of 1873. — The success of the railroad enter- 
prises that have been described in the preceding paragraphs 
induced capitalists to embark in many other schemes. They 
began the building of two other transcontinental lines and the 
extending of railroads everywhere. There was great activity 
and speculation also in other branches of industry. Great 
profits were made by many persons and also complaints be- 
came frequent of the high charges for carrying passengers 
and freight. In Massachusetts a commission was appointed 
to look into the management of the railroads within the 
state. They were to publish the results of their investiga- 



State rail- 
road com- 
missions. 



522 



Reconstruction 



[§398 



Granger 
legislation. 



Failures, 

1873. 

Dunning's 
Reconstruc- 
tion, 235. 

Stoppages of 
mills, etc., 
1873-75- 



Hard Times. 



National 
disgrace. 
Dunning's 
Reconstruc- 
tion, 
oh. xviii. 



tions and advise the railroad authorities as to the best way of 
remedying the grievances of their patrons. In other states, 
people formed societies called granges for self-betterment. 
These granges were united into one great society called the 
Patrons of Husbandry. The rates of freight charged for 
carrying their produce and the high prices of farm and 
household supplies attracted their notice. To remedy the 
latter, they formed co-operative societies which, for a time, 
were very successful. To remedy the former, they caused 
state legislatures to pass laws fixing the highest rates that 
railroads might charge. The result was that railroad building 
stopped in those states and the railroad service in them 
became poorer and poorer. 

In September, 1873, the great banking house of Jay Cooke 
shut its doors. It had become deeply involved in the 
financing of the Northern Pacific and found itself unable to 
sell any more of the bonds of that railroad. At once con- 
structive work stopped everywhere, and so did the making 
of cars, locomotives, rails, and other things that go into 
the construction and operation of railroads. Then other 
branches of manufacturing became affected : all kinds of 
mills were closed or were partly operated. Employees in 
all kinds of industry found themselves without work. They 
stopped buying what was not actually necessary and many 
of them could not buy anything whatever. Earlier panics 
had continued for only a few months ; but now business 
continued to be bad for years. In 18 76-1879, no less than 
four hundred and fifty railroads were sold under foreclosure. 
The "Hard Times" were at their worst in 1878. After 
that year, the country slowly regained its former prosperity. 

398. Corruption in Politics and Business. — In the race 
for wealth, many persons had gone far outside of the paths 
of honesty and fair deaUng. This had not been confined 
to business men, but had extended into governmental 
circles from the administration at Washington to the rings 
and cliques that plundered cities and towns. President 
Grant's personal honesty was beyond question, but many of 



1872] The Election of i8y2 523 

those about him robbed the government or accepted bribes. 
The national Congress was supposed to be honeycombed 
with corruption, but little could be proved against individ- 
ual members. The anger of the voters was especially 
aroused by the raising of the pay of the highest officers 
in the government, including the President, the federal 
judges, and the members of both branches of Congress 
(1873). The case of the last especially attracted notice 
because for them the increase was to be dated back two 
years, so that each Representative who voted for the bill 
would receive five thousand dollars more than he had expected 
to get when he asked the voters to send him to Congress. 
The outcry against this " back- pay steal" or "salary grab" The "salary 
was tremendous. Some members refused to take their ^'^^^' 
share ; others returned theirs to the treasury, and the next 
Congress restored the lower scale of pay for both Senators 
and Representatives. Among the minor scandals, none 
attracted more attention than the " Tweed Ring " in New 
York. In this instance, a group of city officials caused 
themselves to be paid for work that was never done. These 
are the two foremost examples of the political corruption of 
the day ; but the legislatures of some of the states were 
likewise tainted. 

399. The Election of 1872. — Stories of corruption and 
greed worked powerfully against the Republican Party, al- 
though it was really responsible for very little of it. An- 
other cause of unrest among the voters was the foilure of the 
policy of reconstruction to bring safety to the freedmen or 
peace to the South. Many Republicans thought that the 
southern whites had been sufficiently punished for their mis- 
deeds and would better be given full pohtical rights and left 
to settle the negro problem as well as they could. These 
men called themselves "Liberal Repubhcans." In addition The "Liberal 
they stood for reform in the government, especially in the ^^^^}!^^' 
civil service, and for a revision of the tariff. They held a con- 
vention at Cincinnati and nominated Horace Greeley for Horace 
President. He was editor of " The Tribune," a famous New Greeley. 



524 



Reconstruction 



[§400 



Grant 
re-elected. 



Scandals 
and cor- 
ruption. 



Centennial 
Exhibition. 



York newspaper, that had advocated reforms of many kinds. 
He had been an ardent aboUtionist before the war (§ 325), 
and during the war had been greatly dissatisfied with Lincoln's 
attitude. In many ways Greeley was a great man, but he 
was not at all fitted to lead a political movement. The 
Democrats could see no hope of electing one of their own 
party to office. Greeley stood for fair treatment to the south- 
ern whites and the 
Democrats adopted 
him as their candi- 
date also. The reg- 
ular Republicans 
renominated Grant. 
The great mass of the 
voters of the North 
had not forgotten his 
military services to 
the country and were 
willing to close their 
eyes a little longer to 
his short-comings as 
an administrator. 
Horace Greeley He was triumphantly 

re-elected. The 
strain of the campaign combined with the death of his wife 
shortly before the election were too much for Greeley to bear. 
He broke down completely and died a few weeks later. 
. 400. Grant's Second Term, 1873- 1877. — From the point of 
view of political purity, Grant's second term was no improve- 
ment over the first. One scandal after another came to light. 
His private secretary was shown to be a party to a successful 
scheme to defraud the internal revenue. Moreover, the Secre- 
tary of War was implicated in a nefarious scheme to fill his own 
pockets at the expense of the government. These disclosures 
-^aroused renewed dissatisfaction with the Republican party. 
It is pleasant to turn from the story of corruption to the 
great exhibition that was held at Philadelphia in 1876, to 




[876] 



The Electioft of i8']6 



525 



commemorate the ending of the first century of the inde- 
pendence of the United States. It was the first of the kind 
to be held in America and was a most fitting exposition of 
the progress that the American people had made in one 
hundred years. Among the devices shown were three for 
the application of electricity to the comfort and well-being Electrical 
of humanity. One of these was for the transmission of the Appliances, 
human voice from 
one place to another 
over an electrically 
charged wire. An- 
other was the model 
of a railroad, along 
which cars were pro- 
pelled by electricity : 
the third was a lamp 
lighted by the same 
means. The tele- 
phone and the trolley 
car were as yet mere 
toys, and Edison had 
not discovered the 
incandescent electric 
light. The age of 

electricity was at hand, however, and the Centennial Exhibi- 
tion conveniently marks the transition from one age to another. 
401. The Election of 1876. — This election was more 
fiercely contested than any that had been held since i860. 
The Democrats had now accepted the policy of reconstruction 
and there was really very Uttle difference between the two 
great parties, so far as principles went. The Democrats were 
more friendly to the South than were the Republicans ; but 
northern voters generally had grown tired of coercing south- 
ern whites and were becoming indifferent to the interests of 
the negroes. James G. Blaine, the Republican leader in the 
House of Representatives, tried to stimulate northern resent- 
ment by describing southern outrages on the blacks; but 




Rutherford B. Hayes 



526 



Reconstruction 



I§ 401 



Hayes and 
Tilden. 
Stan wood's 
Presidency. 



The 

Electoral 

Commission. 



this " waving of the bloody shirt " met with feeble response. 
The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio 
for President, and the Democrats chose for their candidate 
Samuel J. Tilden of New York, who had shown ability and 
honesty in the administration of state affairs. The election 
was very close, and finally turned on the votes of three 
Southern states, whose governments were still in an unsettled 
condition. The Constitution is exceedingly vague as to the 
process by which the electoral vote shall be ascertained. 
The Twelfth Amendment says : " The President of the Sen- 
ate shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of 
Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall 
then be counted." In 1876 the Senate was Republican 
and the President of the Senate was a Republican ; the 
House of Representatives, on the other hand, was in the 
control of the Democrats. Two sets of certificates had been 
received from Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina, in 
which there was both a Republican and a Democratic form 
of government. There was also a controversy as to the vote 
of Oregon. If all these votes should be counted for the 
Republican candidate, he would be elected by a majority of 
one ; but if the votes of one only of these states should be 
thrown out or given to the Democratic nominee, the latter 
would be elected. Under these circumstances, it was most 
important to secure an impartial count of the ballots ; but 
what man, or body of men, under the Constitution, had the 
authority to decide as to the validity of the disputed certifi- 
cates? Was it tlie business of the President of the Senate? 
Or should it be confided to the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives sitting together or sitting apart ? Should the decid- 
ing body, whatever it was, take the returns as they came 
from the states ; or should it " go behind the returns " and 
decide for itself in each case which set of presidential elec- 
tors had been properly chosen ? Congress could come to no 
agreement on these points ; but both houses were able to 
agree to refer the matter to an extra-legal Electoral Commis- 
sion of five senators, five representatives, and five justices of 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 



527 



the Supreme Court. By accident, it turned out that eight 
of the fifteen members of the commission were RepubHcans, 
and they voted together on every important question. On 
March 2, 1877, the commission, by a vote of eight to seven, 
reported that Hayes was elected, and two days later he was 
inaugurated. 

402. The Whites in Control in the South. — Presi- 
dent Hayes removed the soldiers who still upheld the 
federal authority in two Southern states, and left the 
Southern people free to work out their new life as best 
they might. The old Southern leaders had regained con- 
trol of the Southern state governments, and had practically 
suppressed the political privileges guaranteed to the freed- 
men. They were determined to retain political power in 
their own hands, but had no desire, or at least had no in- 
tention, to return to the slave system, or again to assert the 
doctrine of states' rights ; these two issues were dead in 
the South as they were in the North. The politics of the 
country were to turn on other issues in the future : the re- 
form of the civil service, the revision of the tariff, and the 
substitution of silver for gold as a monetary standard. 
On these issues there has been little difference in principle 
between the two great parties. The Democrats inherited 
from earlier days a desire for freer trade than existed 
under the war tariff, and perhaps would have rejoiced to 
see free 'trade established, while the Republicans, as a 
party, have argued for extreme protection. Both have sup- 
ported civil service reform, especially when they were out 
of power. Until 1896, both parties favored the making of 
laws to put more silver money into circulation. 



Removal of 
the troops 
from the 
South. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§ 375. The Situation in 1865 

Classify under four heads the problems which met the American 
people in 1865; make clear statements of each problem in note- 
book, and enter under it the specific efforts towards solution made 



iol. 



528 Reconstruction 

between 1865 and the present time. In handling which of these 
problems has the American people shown marked ability? great lack 
of intelligence? 

§§ 376-387. Constitutional and Political History, 1865-67 

a. Is it true that our pension appropriations demand from the 
people an amount sufficient to support one of the standing armies of 
Europe? 

^ b. What well-founded objection could be made to Congress's pledge 

" to redeem the public obligations in coin at their face value "? 

c. Was President Johnson rightfully acquitted? 

§§ 390-393- Progress of Reconstruction 

a. Has the Fifteenth Amendment produced valuable results? 

b. What is meant by a racial contest? 

c. Could misgovernment in the South have been avoided? 

§§ 396-400. Industrial Expansion and the Panic 

a. Why were the transcontinental railroads of such great political 
importance? 

b. State three causes of the Panic of 1873. 

c. What do you think of the " salary grab "? 

§§ 399-402. Political Uncertainty, 1872-1876 

a Would you have voted for Grant or for Greeley? 

b. Was Tilden " elected " President? 

c. Was the appointment of the Electoral Commission desirable? 

General Questions 

Prepare entries in note-book under " Negro Slavery " for con- 
tinuous recitation under the following heads: (i) origin, (2) position 
in 1760, (3) position in 1800, (4) influence of cotton culture on, 
(5) rise of the abolitionists, (6) right of petition, (7) territorial ex- 
pansion, (8) Texas, (9) Mexican cessions, (10) compromise of i820» 
of 1850, (11) fugitive slaves, (12) Kansas-Nebraska act, (13) struggle 
in Kansas, (14) rise of the Republican party, (15) the Dred Scott 
case, (16) the Emancipation Proclamation, (17) amendments to the 
Constitution, (18) present position of the negro in the South. 



1 



39lO 
9b9T 



. 9rft 
'V19? 

CHAPTER XV 

NATIONAL DEVELOrMENT, 1877-1898 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Wilson's Division and Reunion, 288 and fol.; 
Johnston's American Politics, 247-304; Peck's Twenty Years of the 
Republic, 188^-igo^ ; Stanwood's History of the Presidency. 

Special Accounts. — Y)MVimr\^% Reconstruction ; Andrews's United 
States in Our Own Time ; Dewey's Financial History of the United 
States ; E. E. Sparks's National Development. Definite information 
can be found in the World Almanac, the Tribune Almanac, and 
Appleton's Annual Cyclopctdia. 

Sources. — McPherson's Handbook of Politics, Richardson's Mes- 
sages and Papers of the Presidents. oa ni 
Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 251-264. 

Illustrative Material. — Winston Churchill's The Crisis and Mr. 
Crewels Career (politics in a New England state) ; Owen Wister's The 
Virginian (life on the plains) ; G. Stratton-Porter's Freckles and The 
Girl of the Limberlost (life in the western woods). 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, 1877-1898 

403. Hayes's Administration, 1877-1881 President 

Hayes began his administration under many disadvantages. 
His election had been achieved by doubtful means ; the 
House of Representatives was in control of the Democrats, 
who hampered him in every way ; and his own acts during the Removal of 
first two years of his term dissatisfied both the radical and ' '^ troops, 
the regular Republicans. Moreover, he thought that the 
time had come to withdraw the few federal soldiers who 
were still mounting guard over Republican Southern govern- 
ments. These at once passed into the hands of the Demo- 
crats. The Radicals disliked this greatly and charged that 
it was part of the price of Hayes's election. The new Presi- 
2M 529 



53° 



National Development 



[§404 



Hayes and 
the civil 



Greenbacks 
redeemed 
in gold, 1879. 



dent also removed many Republican officials who had used 
their public position as vantage points from which to fight 
the party's battles.' Among those who were displaced were 
Chester A. Arthur, collector of customs at New York and 
chairman of the National Republican Committee, and Ira B. 
Cornell, postmaster at New York and chairman of the state 
Republican committee. Hitherto, no one except civil ser- 
vice reformers had objected to using national offices as 
political headquarters. The Repubhcan leaders were amazed 
at the President's action and were profoundly irritated, with 
the result that in the election of 1878, the Democrats secured 
control of the national Senate, while retaining their hold on 
the House. In the next two years President Hayes's quiet, 
dignified administration won back many Northern Repub- 
lican voters so that in 1880 the Republican party was 
much stronger than it had been in 1876. 

404. The Resumption of Specie Payments The most 

notable event of Hayes's term of office was the resumption 
of specie payments in 1879 (see § 340). This had been 
resolved upon in 1875 and the government had been 
accumulating gold for some time. Many persons prophesied 
disaster whenever the government should begin to pay out 
gold for greenbacks, because everybody would wish to have 
the precious metal actually in his possession instead of the 
government's promise to pay. Nothing of the kind hap- 
pened, however, for when the time came, it was so certain 
that the government had enough gold on hand to redeem 
its notes that people, instead of taking the paper bills to the 
treasury and demanding gold, took gold to the government's 
offices and got paper bills in exchange for it — for these 
were much more convenient to handle. This is always 
spoken of as the " resumption of specie payments " but in 
reality it was the establishment of a gold standard for the 
United States. Before the Civil War, both gold and silver 
dollars had been the standard of value. The silver miners 
had been so active since then that silver had greatly decreased 
in value in comparison with gold. In 1873, an act of Con- 



[88o] 



The Election of 1880 



531 



gress had been passed discarding silver as a standard, or 
demonetizing it. 

405. The Election of 1880. — President Hayes had 
aroused so much resentment among the poHticians without 
gaining the support of the reformers that his nomination for The " Stai- 
a second term was out of the question. In 1879, General y^f^^^ '^^ 
Grant returned from a tour around the world. He had been 



Chicago, 




Election of 1880 

royally received in every country that he had visited and his 
landing in the United States evoked a tremendous outburst 
of enthusiasm. Very many politicians misunderstood this 
cordial greeting to the great soldier as a demand for his 
return to the White House, as the first person to hold the 
presidential office for three terms. The Republican Con- 
vention was held at Chicago. Three hundred and six dele- 
gates—the "Stalwarts," as they were called— voted per- 
sistently for the renomination of General Grant ; but they 
did not form a majority of the whole number. Most of the 



532 , National Development [§ 405 

other delegates favored James G. Blaine or John Sherman. 
The former had been Speaker of the national House of Rep- 
resentatives and possessed a marvellous faculty of arousing 
popular enthusiasm, but his name was still associated by 
■Ibj; many people with the Credit Mobilier scandal (§ 396). 

*fi John Sherman was the brother of the famous general. In 

Congress, he had stood faithfully by the Union and as Sec- 
retary of the Treasury had successfully carried out the re- 
sumption of specie payments. After thirty-five ballots had 
been taken, without any of these men obtaining a majority, 
it seemed to be clear that none of them could be nom- 
inated. The members of the convention suddenly turned 
Glrfieid to James A. Garfield and chose him as the party's stand- 

nc Tiinated. gj.^ bearer. He had served with high credit in the Civil 
War and had been prominent in Congress since then. 
iBncock Chester A. Arthur was nominated for the Vice-presidency 

ar 1 the j-Q placate those who had urged Grant's candidacy so 

tafiff. . ° 

persistently. 

The Democrats nominated Winfield Scott Hancock, one 
of the most dashing and successful of the Union generals in 
the Civil War. As military commander of one of the depart- 
ments in the South under the Reconstruction Acts, he had 
at one and the same time done his duty and won the good 
will of the Southern whites by his fairness and his courtesy. 
Instead of coming out boldly for a revision of the war tariff 
and fighting the election on that point, Hancock tried to 
lessen the importance of the matter by saying that it was a 
"local issue." The election was very close, the Republi- 
cans having only ten thousand more votes in the country as 
a whole than the Democrats. Owing to the working of the 
electoral system, however, Garfield had two hundred and 
fourteen electoral votes to only one hundred and fifty-five 
for Hancock, all of them from the South. The Democrats 
also lost control of the House of Representatives and the 
Senate was equally divided between the two parties, there 
being thirty-seven Republicans, thirty-seven Democrats and 
two Independents. 



President Garfield 



533 



406. President Garfield. — The new President had no great 
section of the RepubUcan party behind him. He had been 
brought before the Convention at the very last moment as a 
" dark horse," because the delegates could agree upon no 
one else. After the election the Grant men, or " Stalwarts," 
tried to dictate to Garfield as to appointments, especially in 
New York. Instead of yielding to them, he nominated for 
two of the most important offices in that state, men whom 
the New York sen- 
ators especially dis- 
liked. Upon their 
confirmation by the 
Senate, the New 
Yorkers resigned and 
asked their state leg- 
islature to send them 
back, thereby ap- 
proving their action 
and condemning Gar- 
field's. The state 
legislature refused to 
do this and sent two 
other men. Garfield 
may be said to have come out victorious in this contest, 
but it divided the party. Another thing that troubled 
him was a scandal that came out in connection with the 
Post Office Department. Officials at Washington and con- 
tractors who carried the mails on the "Star Routes," con- 
spired together to overcharge the government and divide 
the proceeds between them. Garfield was in no way re- 
sponsible for these practices which had been going on for 
some years. Upon his refusal to stop the investigation, 
letters that he had written suggesting contributions for polit- 
ical purposes were published. This had been a long stand- 
ing practice, but the people were now becoming sensitive as 
to extracting money for political objects from government 
employees. It was under these circumstances that Presi- 




J. A. Garfield 



a£22£ 



Garfield "9»« 
and the 'lo'^^'' 
stalwarts; ''^'^ 



The " Star 

Route 

frauds." 



9f(T 

,)dA 



534 



National Development 



[§407 



Garfield 

assassinated, 



First 

attempts to 
reform the 
civil service. 



The 

Pendleton 
Act, 1883. 



dent Garfield was shot (July 2, 1881) by a disappointed 
office seeker, who had persuaded himself that only by Gar- 
field's removal could the Republican Party be reunited. 
After a long and distressing illness, the President died on 
the 19th of the following September. 

407. President Arthur and the Civil Service. — Vice- 
president Arthur now succeeded to the chief magistracy of 
the nation. While collector of customs at New York, he 
had distributed offices as the reward of political services. 
Garfield's tragic death aroused public attention to the evils 
of the spoils system and the new President fell in with the 
popular wish. Filling the offices with members of one's 
own party had begun in the days of Washington and Jeffer- 
son, and had been carried to its logical conclusion by. Jack- 
son. The voters as a whole had paid slight attention to the 
matter until the scandals of Grant's second term compelled 
their observation. Any reform of the civil service is very dif- 
ficult of accompHshment. No legal Umitation can be placed 
upon the President's constitutional power of nomination 
and a reform of this kind requires money which must be 
provided by Congress. The active and continuing co-oper- 
ation of both branches of the government is therefore neces- 
sary to the beginning and prosecution of this particular 
reform. General Grant was anxious to give the country a 
pure and efficient civil service and willingly consented to 
have his power limited for the public good. An act author- 
izing hirn to administer, through a Civil Service Commission, 
such rules for appointment and promotion of civilian em- 
ployees as he might think desirable was passed in 187 1. 
After three years of fairly successful trial, Congress refused 
to provide money to carry on this work and this attempt to 
improve pohtical life came to an end. 

Senator George H. Pendleton of Ohio, a Democrat, had 
long been interested in civil service reform. He now intro- 
duced a bill authorizing the President again to establish the 
merit system of appointments to federal offices. The Senate 
and the House were controlled by the Republicans ; but the 



[884] 



The Election of 1884 



535 



pressure of public opinion was so strong that they accepted Mac- 

the bill and President Arthur signed it (1883). The Civil r>onaid's 

Service Commission was again appointed and the merit 'llZ-'cT''"'^ 

system applied to a few specified classes of officials. Book, No. 

408. The Election of 1884. — In 1884, the Republicans 'ag- 
nominated James G. Blaine as their candidate for President. Blaine and 
Arthur had given the country an excellent administration, Cleveland. 




Election of 1884 



but he had aroused the enmity of those sections of the 
Republican Party that had placed him in power without 
winning the support of the radical reformers. These were 
now more numerous and outspoken than ever before. 
They demanded the ending of the spoils system, the re- 
form of the tariff, and greater economy in the national 
expenditures. The Democrats nominated Grover Cleve- 
land, at the moment governer of New York. He had given The 
the public excellent service in that office and also earlier Mugwumps, 
as mayor of the city of Buffalo. The reformers, or " Mug- 



536 



National Development 



[§409 



Cleveland 
elected. 



The 

Mugwumps 
Cleveland, 
and the 
office- 
seekers. 



wumps," as they were derisively termed by their opponents, 
deserted the Republican party and supported Cleveland. 
Even with their aid the election was very close and turned 
finally upon the state of New York. The Republicans 
would probably have won, for many New York Democrats 
disliked and distrusted Cleveland. Shortly before election 
day, an incautious clergyman in presenting an address to 
Blaine stigmatized the Democrats as favorers of " Rum, 
Romanism, and Rebellion." Worn out with the stress of 
the campaign, Blaine did not notice the phrase at the 
moment and at once disavow this characterization of 
many persons who would otherwise probably have voted for 
him. He also attended a banquet at which were many of 
the richest men of the country. These two incidents gave 
his enemies their chance to stigmatize him as the enemy 
of the poor and of the Roman Catholics. When the votes 
were counted, it appeared that outside of New York, Cleve- 
land had received 183 electoral votes to 182 for Blaine. 
Everything turned, therefore, upon the way in which New 
York's thirty-six electoral votes would be cast. The elec- 
tion in that state had been so close that a recount 
was necessary. This took ten days to accomplish. There 
was great excitement throughout the country. When at 
last the vote was announced, it was found that Cleveland 
had carried New York by 1149 votes in a total of over one 
million. By this narrow margin, the election was decided 
in his favor. After twenty-four years' hold on power, the 
Republicans gave way to a Democratic administration. 

409. Cleveland and the Civil Service. — - Cleveland took 
the oath of office on March 4, 1885, and found himself face 
to face with a very difficult task. His Democratic followers 
were hungry for office after so many years of deprivation, but 
his Mugwump supporters were first of all civil service reform- 
ers. Cleveland, himself, honestly favored the merit system, but 
he realized that if he got too far away from his party he 
would lose every chance of getting useful legislation from 
Congress as to the civil service or anything else. More- 



The Tarijf 



537 



over, he also thought that Southerners should be appointed 
to some of the offices. This was no doubt entirely just, but 
many Northerners who had voted for him thought it incon- 
gruous to have former Confederate soldiers representing the 
national government in foreign countries. It seemed more 
fitting for southern Democrats to be appointed to federal 
offices in the South 
and it was perfectly 
true that no civil 
service reform could 
be permanently es- 
tabUshed anywhere, 
so long as practically 
all the offices were 
occupied by the mem- 
bers of one party. 
Cleveland removed 
some Republicans to 
make room for Dem- 
ocrats, and some of 
those Democrats 
whom he appointed 
made a clean sweep 
of all the officers 
under them. These 
things greatly dis- 
pleased the reformers, 
while at the same time 
Cleveland's refusal to 
Democratic followers. 

410. The Tariff. — The war left the country staggermg R^^^^^^Jp °- 
under a heavy load of taxation : the internal revenue duties '^^'^^^^ 
affected nearly every kind of expenditure, and the high pro- duties, 
tective duties greatly increased the cost of all manufactured 
articles. The internal revenue duties were reduced m num- 
ber and in amount until, in 1872, they were practically 
abandoned, except as to beer, spirits, and tobacco. 




Grover Clevelana 



make more removals angered his 



538 National Development [§ 410 

Tariff policy. It will be remembered that the tariff rates had been in- 
Johnston's creased to counteract the effect of the internal revenue 

Orations, YV, , . . , ^^.^ /c. \ t. i i 

238-269 duties on manufactured commodities (§ 342). it would 

appear reasonable, therefore, that, as the latter were reduced 
or abandoned, the former should be reduced at the same 
time. It is one of the peculiarities of the protective system, 
however, that a protective duty once imposed is very difficult 
to get rid of Important interests become alarmed, and are 
able to advance an argument which undoubtedly has a good 
deal of force, — the threatened industry has been established 
or enlarged, and capital has been invested in a plant which 
would become useless were the industry to be destroyed. 
Working men and women are also keenly interested in the 
matter ; hundreds and thousands of workers have gained 
skill of the kind demanded by the industry which is threat- 
ened. If the law is repealed, these skilled work-people will 
be turned adrift, and they and those dependent upon them 
left to starve. These and similar arguments operated to re- 
tain the war tariff for many years notwithstanding the repeal 
of the internal revenue laws. 

In 1872, when the internal revenue duties came to an 
end, Congress passed an act making a general ten per cent 
reduction on import duties ; on several commodities, the 
duties were greatly lowered ; for instance, that on salt was 
reduced one half, and the duty on coal was lowered from 
one hundred and twenty-five per cent to seventy-five per 
cent ; other commodities, as hides, paper stock, and a few 
other raw materials for manufacturers' use, were placed on the 
free list, as were also tea and coffee. A year later came the 
financial panic ; the revenue fell off, and Congress restored the 
ten per cent reduction, leaving the other reductions as they 
were. Nothing more was done until 1882, when a tariff com- 
mission was appointed to gather evidence, and, on its report, 
a slight modification of the protective duties was made. In 
1887 President Cleveland brought the matter prominently 
forward, and for a time it seemed as if something might be 
done ; but nothing of importance was accomplished. 



Harrison'' s A dministration 



539 



411. The Election of 1888. — Cleveland was again selected Cleveland 
by the Democrats as their candidate for the presidency. ^""^ 

He was not popular with the party workers ; but he was the 
only Democrat who had any chance of election. Foremost 
among the Republican candidates for nomination was Mr. 
Blaine who had been defeated in 1884. After long hesitation, 
he surprised friends and enemies, alike, by refusing to allow 
his name to be brought 
before the convention. 
The contest for the Re- 
publican nomination was 
between John Sherman 
of Ohio and Benjamin 
Harrison of Indiana. The 
latter was the grandson of 
President William Henr\ 
Harrison. He was a cour- 
teous gentleman, had 
served in the Union ar- 
mies, and had represented 
his state in the Senate. 
The election was very 
close as it had been in 
1884. Cleveland received nearly one hundred thousand 
more votes in the country at large than were given to Harrison. 
Again, as in 1884, the working of the electoral system gave 
the decision to New York. Cleveland was still unpopular Harrison 
among the politicians there. It happened, therefore, that 
although the New York Democrats elected their candidate 
for governor, enough of them voted for Harrison or did not 
vote at all for presidential electors to give the electoral vote 
of the state to the Republican candidate. This decided the 
matter and Harrison was declared elected President. 

412. Harrison's Administration, 1889-1893. — The Re- 
publicans once more had complete control of the govern- 
ment for they had secured a majority in both branches of 
Congress. One of the pledges in their party platform had 




Benjamin Harrison 



elected. 



540 



National Development 



[§412 



The 

McKinley 
Tariff, 1890. 



Silver 
legislation. 
Bland-Alli- 
son Law, 
1878. Mac- 
Donald's 
Documentary 
Source Book, 
No. 178. 
Sherman 
Silver Law, 
1890. Mac- 
Donald's 
Documentary 
Source Book, 
No. 182. 



been a promise to reform the tariff. The election, indeed, 
had been fought on this issue which Cleveland had brought 
prominently forward. The Republicans now proceeded to 
reform the tariff by raising the rates on many articles, al- 
ready enjoying protection, and adding others to the list. A 
prominent feature of the new law was the offer of reciprocity 
to countries that would favor the importation of American 
manufactures. At the time, it was supposed by many per- 
sons that this offer would be eagerly accepted by other 
countries, so that the final result of the new law would be to 
diminish the total import duties collected, as the rates had 
been put so high on many commodities that they would not 
be imported at all. William McKinley, chairman of the 
House committee of ways and means, had the principal hand 
in framing this law and it is known by his name. What might 
have happened had the reciprocity policy embodied in this act 
been carried out cannot be stated, for it was repealed in 1894 
(§ 405) before its good or bad qualities had been really tested. 
The other notable bit of legislation in Harrison's time 
was the passage of the Sherman Silver Law. In 1878, 
when the country was on the eve of the resumption of 
specie payment, the friends of silver secured the passage of 
an act requiring the government to purchase enough silver 
to coin not less than two million and not more than four 
miUion silver dollars in each month. This act was now re- 
pealed, and instead the Secretary of the Treasury was di- 
rected by law to purchase two million ounces of silver in 
each month, and to pay for them witli treasury notes which 
were to be redeemable in " coin," and to be received in the 
payrnent of all debts either private or public. This law was 
passed in response to a popular demand for a greater volume 
of money and a wish " to do something for silver." Great 
quantities of this metal were produced in the United States. 
Its value, when measured in gold was constantly declining 
owing in part, at least, to the refusal of European countries 
to use it any longer as the standard of value. In short, this 
legislation was partly protective and partly monetary. 



i8qo] Oklahoma 541 

413. Oklahoma. — Ever since the close of the Civil War, Indian 
there had been Indian disturbances in the western country. ^'°" '^^* 
Some of these outbreaks had been the direct result of the 
bad policy of the government and the mistakes of its agents. 
Others had been caused by the rush of prospectors and 
miners to the rich deposits of silver and lead in the Black 
Hills and in other places lying within the limits of Indian 
reservations. Still other uprisings had been due to the land 
hunger of pioneer farmers who deserted the older settled 
regions of the West for more fertile lands, which were often- 
times within the area reserved for the aborigines. Finally, 
the building of the transcontinental railroads and their 
branches had made accessible millions of acres of splendid 
land, — and much of this was also within the Indian reserva- 
tions. Without stationing a soldier at every half mile of the 
border, the incursion of the whites into Indian land could not 
be prevented. 

In 1866 the government had bought the western part Oklahoma 
of the Indian Territory from the Indian tribes to whom it territory, 
had been granted in the first part of the century. This ces- 
sion of territory was made on the express condition that no 
white setdement should be permitted within the ceded area. 
In 1888-89, the government acquired full right in this region, 
which was opened to white colonists on April 22, 1889, under 
the name of Oklahoma Territory. For days, pioneers had 
been waiting on the borders of the coveted land for the 
moment when they could cross over and take possession of 
the best sites for farms and towns. Some were provided 
with portable houses and household goods. At noon, on ^^ ^^^^^ 
the firing of guns, the crowds rushed over the border, some 
on foot, others on horseback or in wagons, and still others 
by the railroads which had already been built through the 
Territory. Within twenty-four hours, fifty thousand persons 
had passed the line. Oklahoma proved to be exceedingly 
rich in agricultural lands and in petroleum oil and other 
natural resources. It grew so rapidly that in 1907, together 
with the rest of the old Indian Territory, it was admitted to 



1889. 



The 



542 



National Development 



[§414 



Oklahoma 

admitted, 

1907. 



Civilizing the 
Indian. 



Harrison re- 
nominated. 



Cleveland 
and the 
Democratic 
leaders. 



the Union as a state under the name of Oklahoma. At the 
same time that the admission of Oklahoma was debated, 
the question of admitting Arizona and New Mexico was also 
discussed. One proposition was to admit them as one state ; 
but this was strongly opposed in Arizona. In 191 2 they 
were admitted to the Union as separate states. 

In recent years the government has tried to put an end to 
Indian tribal relations by making over to the head of each 
Indian family a certain specified piece of land which could 
not be sold or mortgaged by their Indian possessors. In 
this way it is expected that the aborigines will gradually 
grow to be like white people, and abandon their desire for 
war and for a wandering life. The government has also es- 
tablished at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, off the 
reservations as well as on, schools where Indian boys and 
girls can be trained in the arts of civilization. Within re- 
cent years, the Indian population has been increasing, and 
those who are interested in the matter look forward hopefully 
to the future prosperity of the descendants of the American 
aborigines. 

414. The Election of 1892. — As Harrison approached 
the end of his term of office, the leaders of the Republican 
party realized that the future was very doubtful. Harrison's 
administration of the laws had been admirable, and he had 
stood by the principles of civil service reform. The new 
tariff policy and the silver legislation had aroused the fears 
of many leaders of industry and commerce, and their appre- 
hensions had spread to their employees. Nevertheless, he 
was nominated by the Republican Convention which was 
held at Minneapolis in June, 1892. Cleveland was the 
logical candidate of the Democrats, but the politicians of 
that party were opposed to him. He had been too inde- 
pendent and had paid Httle heed to their requests for office. 
Governor David B. Hill of New York led in the attempt to 
prevent his renomination by causing the state Democratic 
convention to be held in February without any adequate 
notice to the mass of the party. A solid anti-Cleveland 



[Sgsl Cleveland's Second Term 



543 



delegation was elected. In the West and in the South, also, 
Cleveland's hostility to the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver had aroused discontent. Instead of being non-com- 
mittal on the matter, he wrote a public letter declaring that 
" the dangerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited, 
and independent silver coinage " would " invite the gravest 
peril." A third party also appeared in the field. It called The People"; 
itself the People's party. Its platform denounced the money '^'^'''-^' 
power, demanded the free and unlimited coinage of siver 
and gold at the rate of sixteen to one, that a tax be levied on 
incomes, and that the telegraph, telephone, and railroad 
systems be owned and operated by the government. General 
Weaver, their candidate, drew from both of the old parties. 
More than a million voters cast their ballots for him and he 
received twenty-two electoral votes. In general, Cleveland Cleveland 
received the whole of the Democratic vote and some of the "fleeted. 
Republican. He was elected President, and the Democrats 
also secured control of both branches of Congress. For the 
first time since the Civil War that party was in control of 
both the executive and legislative departments of the govern- 
ment. 

415. Cleveland's Second Term, 1893-1897. — President The Panic 
Cleveland's greatest interest was to secure a modification of °^ ^^93- 
the tariff, but he found the financial condition of the govern- 
ment very grave when he assumed office in 1893. The Re- 
publicans had spent money freely in the preceding four 
years, and the necessity of purchasing silver every month 
greatly added to the expenditures. Moreover, silver was 
constantly declining in value in comparison with gold, while 
the government was obliged to pay out gold for the cer- 
tificates that . had been issued under the Sherman Act. 
There were undoubtedly many other reasons for the feehng 
of uneasiness that prevailed in the business world, not only 
in America, but in Europe as well. Holders of stocks in 
railroads and mills sold their shares to whomsoever would 
buy them and a panic swept over the land. Cleveland 
thought that the Sherman Silver Act was responsible for 



544 



National Development 



[§4i6 



Silver Law 
repealed, 
1893. Mac- 
Donald's 
Documentary 
Source Book, 
No. 183. 

The Wilson 
Tariff, 1894. 



Sales of 
Bonds. 



The Pullman 
Strike 



most of the distrust. He summoned Congress in special ses- 
sion and compelled the two Houses to repeal the law. 

The Silver Law being repealed, Congress took up the 
question of the tariff. The House passed a bill that had 
been framed under the President's direction and was in- 
troduced by Representative Wilson. It was designed to bring 
about considerable reductions in the rates of duties laid on 
imported articles. When the bill reached the Senate, it was 
entirely reconstructed, so that more protection was given in 
some cases, although the rates as a whole were somewhat 
diminished. At first the House refused to accept these 
amendments, but later agreed to them as the Senate de- 
clined to make any change. When the bill came to the 
President for his signature, he found himself in a difficult 
position. P'inally he allowed it to become a law without 
giving his assent directly. The repeal of the Sherman Act 
and the passage of the Wilson Tariff did not put an end to 
the government's financial troubles. The stock of gold in the 
treasury constantly diminished. Four separate times Cleve- 
land was obliged to sell government bonds to obtain more 
gold' with which to redeem the paper money and certificates, 
but the gold went out of the national treasury nearly as fast 
as it came in. 

416. Labor Troubles, 1894. — There was great unrest in 
the labor world. ^Vages were being reduced in many places 
and manufacturing establishments were operated on short 
time. Among other corporations to reduce wages was the 
Pullman Company which manufactured cars and operated 
them all over the country. Some of the employees refus- 
ing to accept the reduction, the works were shut down. 
Upon this the American Railway Union at the head of 
which was Eugene V. Debs, declared a sympathetic strike. 
Debs and the other leaders earnestly exhorted the men 
to be entirely peaceful. For a short time, this was the 
case, then sympathizers with the strikers interfered and 
attacked those who were employed by the railway company 
and began to destroy property. This whole movement cen- 



[895] 



Venezuela and the Monroe Doctrine 



545 



Chicago 
Riots, 1895 



Britain and 
Venezuela. 



teredat Chicago. Before long, the postmaster there informed 
the government at Washington that the mails were being 
interfered with and that the local authorities were not pro- 
tecting the property of the United States. Cleveland there- 
upon directed that a few regiments of regular soldiers should 
at once go to Chicago, and issued a proclamation warning 
rioters to disperse and retire to their respective abodes. 
At the same time Debs was arrested for disobeying an order 
of a federal court forbidding him to do anything to incite 
domestic violence and obstruct the carrying of the mails. 
Upon this interference by the federal government the labor 
troubles came to an abrupt end. 

417. Venezuela and the Monroe Doctrine, 1895. — For years Great 
the South American state of Venezuela had been engaged 
in a boundary controversy with Great Britain. The latter 
power claimed that a large part of what had once been 
Venezuela was a part of British Guiana. It refused to sub- 
mit the dispute to arbitration. Cleveland and Richard 
Olney, his Seci-etary of State, called the attention of the 
British government to the fact that this appropriation of 
American territory, supposing that it were not a part of 
Old Guiana, was contrary to the principles of the Monroe 
Doctrine (§ 259) and suggested that the matter should be 
referred to arbitration. A most unsatisfactory answer was 
returned in which among other things was the assertion that 
the Monroe Doctrine was not a part of international law 
and was obsolete. Upon this, Cleveland sent a message to 
Congress stating the facts and suggesting that an American 
commission be appointed to ascertain the truth as to the 
boundary line. If the report were unfavorable to the British Cleveland's 
contention, it would be the duty of the United States to 
resist " as a wilful aggression upon its rights and interests " 
the appropriation of such lands by Great Britain. The 
message created a tremendous stir in the United States and 
in Great Britain as well. Stocks were sold right and left in 
Wall Street, but Congress endorsed the President's action. 
In Great Britain, members of Parliament and a large num- 



message, 
1895. 



546 



National Development 



[§4i8 



Bryan and 
silver. 



Republicans 

nominate 

McKinley. 



ber of people presented memorials to the government ask- 
ing the ministry to pursue a conciliatory policy, and Lord 
Salisbury consented to submit the matter to arbitration, with 
the result that a large portion of the disputed territory was 
awarded to Great Britain, and the rest to Venezuela. 

418. The Election of 1896. — The financial difficulties of 
Cleveland's administration, his hostility to silver, and his 
prompt action in the labor troubles had made him exces- 
sively unpopular with the rank and file of the Democratic 
party. His success in compelling Great Britain to arbitrate 
the Venezuela boundary dispute had only sHghtly dimin- 
ished this ill feeling. The great mass of the Democratic party 
by this time had come to believe that the free and un- 
limited coinage of silver was the only way to restore pros- 
perity. This view was advocated by William Jennings Bryan 
at the convention which met at Chicago in 1896. He was 
a magnetic orator and was a man of the greatest sincerity 
and honesty of purpose. He was nominated for the presi- 
dency, the convention even refusing to commend Cleveland's 
administration. The Republicans held their convention at 
St. Louis ; there were silver men in that party also, but the 
convention declared for the gold standard, unless foreign 
nations could be brought to acquiesce in the establishment 
of a double standard. It was upon this platform that William 
McKinley of Ohio became the Republican candidate for 
President. The gold Democrats seceded from the party 
and nominated a candidate of their own. On the other 
hand, the Populist party accepted Bryan as its candidate. 
The campaign was hotly contested. Bryan traveled over 
the country, sometimes making a dozen speeches a day, 
and addressing hundreds of thousands of voters in the course 
of a few months. McKinley remained at home welcoming 
in neat httle speeches those who came to visit him to the 
number of more than seven hundred thousand. The pros- 
pect of free silver alarmed business men as nothing ever 
had in the whole previous history of the government. They 
adopted every possible means to make their employees 



[895] 



McKinlevs First Administration 



547 



understand what disastrous consequences would come to 
them from the election of the Democratic candidate. 
McKinley received a majority of the popular vote and a 
very large majority of the electoral vote, carrying every 
state north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, and in 
addition four states which had hitherto voted with the solid 
South. 

419. McKinley's First Administration. — The' Republi- 
cans again came into power with a distinct mandate from 
the voters for the revision of the tariff in the direction of 
protection, for the establishment of the gold standard, unless 
the leading countries of the world would join in making both 
gold and silver the standard of the value of money, and for 
the regulation of great corporations especially the railroads. 
These pledges they now proceeded to make good. By the 
Dingley Tariff, high protection was again given to manufac- 
turers and most stringent regulations were devised for the 
protection of honest importers of foreign made goods. A 
commission was appointed to confer with other nations as 
to the establishment of a double standard of money by inter- 
national agreement. Such an arrangement was found to be 
impossible. In 1900, therefore, Congress by law established 
the gold standard, repeahng all the silver legislation of recent 
years. A great mass of silver had already been accumulated 
in the treasury vaults, and notwithstanding the formal estab- 
lishment of a gold standard, " silver certificates " were issued. 
On each one of these the government promised to pay the 
bearer the face value in silver. There are many other peculiar- 
ities in the monetary system of the country which alarm those 
who are expert in such matters, but up to 191 2, nothing has 
been done to remedy these evils in our financial system. 

An effort had already been made to curb the formation of 
trusts and combinations by the passage of the Sherman Anti- 
trust Act. This prohibited competitive concerns combining 
in large corporations to limit production or to crush out 
rivals. A commission had also been appointed to inquire 
into the condition of interstate traffic. Upon its report 



McKinley 
elected. 



The Dingley 
Tariff, 1897.' 



Gold stand- 
ard, 1900. 



Sherman 
Anti-trust 
Act, 1890. 
Mac- 
Donald's 
Documentary 
Source Book, 
No. 181. 



548 



National Development 



[§ 420 



Interstate 
Commerce 
Commis- 
sion, 1887. 
Mac- 
Donald's 
Docu7nentary 
Source Book, 
No. 180. 



Cuban 
relations. 



Jefferson and 
Monroe on 
annexation. 



another act had been passed making the commission perma- 
nent and giving it more power, prohibiting the railroads 
from entering into agreements with each other as to rates 
and forbidding them to discriminate in favor of large cust 
tomers and large centers of industry. Not much had really 
been accomplished before 1900, in these directions, but a 
basis had been laid for future action. The great event of 
McKinley's administration was the war with Spain and the 
coming forward of the United States as a world power. 

420. The Cuban Question, 1807-1860 Ever since the 

beginning of the century Cuba and the Cuban people have 
had a peculiar interest for the American nation. The island 
is surpassingly fertile and contains rich mineral deposits. Its 
position makes its occupation by any strong foreign power 
very dangerous to the safety of the United States. Its 
command of the Caribbean Sea makes American control 
of it almost a military necessity. Its unceasing misgovern- 
ment had often angered our people and had frequently given 
rise to disputes with Spain. As long ago as 1807 Jefferson 
suggested that " probably Cuba would add itself to our con- 
federation in case of a war with Spain." In 1823 Monroe 
declared that Cuba would be *' the most interesting addi- 
tion " to the United States. In 1848 the American govern- 
ment offered to pay one hundred million dollars for the 
island. The Spaniards replied that they would prefer to see 
it " sunk in the ocean." Three years later, to another offer, 
they replied that " to part with Cuba would be to part with 
national honor." Americans interested in annexation then 
fitted out expeditions to stir up rebellions in the island. 
But the American government stopped that proceeding. 
Foreign powers, however, were alarmed. England and 
France asked the United States to join with them in a guar- 
antee of the island to Spain. But the American government 
refused to be a party to any such agreement, because, under 
some circumstances, its possession " might be essential to our 
safety" (1852). Two years later the American ministers 
to England, France, and Spain joined in the " Ostend 



Causes of the Spanish War 



549 



Manifesto," suggesting annexation by force on the ground 
that the United States could " never enjoy repose, nor pos- 
sess reUable security, as long as Cuba is not embraced within 
its boundaries." The possession of Cuba became a recog- 
nized part of Democratic policy and was favored in the 
platforms of both the Breckenridge and Douglas Democrats 
in i860. 

421. Causes of the Spanish War. — Since the close of the 
Civil War the misgovernment of Cuba attracted ever in- 
creasing attention. In 1868 the Cubans rebelled. Year 
after year the insurrection, with its horrible tale of pillage and 
murder, continued. At length, in 1878, President Grant in- 
terfered to effect a separation of the island from its tyrannical 
masters. Spain at once made concessions which induced 
the insurgents to lay down their arms. These concessions 
were never honestly carried into effect. In 1895 another 
rebellion broke out. Again heartrending tales of cruelty 
reached the United States. The government did everything 
possible to prevent assistance being sent to the insurgents. 
The conditions of the Cubans became worse and worse. On 
January 25, 1898, the battleship Maine anchored in Havana 
harbor to safeguard American interests. On February 15 
she was blown up from the outside, and sank to the bottom of 
the harbor with two hundred and fifty-three of her crew. A 
Board of Inquiry was at once appointed. Meantime, early 
in March, Congress placed fifty million dollars in Presi- 
dent McKinley's hands for national defense. The substance 
of the report of the Board was made public on March 
21. A week later McKinley sent the full report to Con- 
gress, with the statement that it had been communicated 
to the Spanish government that the Spaniards might take 
such action as should be "suggested by honor and the 
friendly relations of the two governments." Spain replied by 
proposing that the matter should be referred to arbitration. 

Events now marched rapidly on. Unless the United 
States intervened, it was evident that the extermination of 
the Cuban people would go on until the peace " of the 



"TheOstend 
Manifesto," 

1854- 

American 
History 
Leafiets, 
xNo. 2. 



Cuba, 
1868-98. 



Destruction 
of the Maine 
February, 



550 



National Development 



[§421 



Spain 
ordered to 
withdraw, 
April 19, 
1898. Mac- 
Donald's 
Docume/itaiy 
Source Book, 
No. 184. 



wilderness and the grave " should leave none to resist. Re- 
plying to the foreign ambassadors, McKinley declared : " The 
chronic condition of disturbance there [in Cuba] so deeply 
injures the interests and menaces the tranquillity of the Ameri- 
can nation by the character and consequences of the struggle 
thus kept at our door, besides shocking its sentiment of 
humanity," that its " indefinite prolongation . . . has become 
insufferable." April 19 Congress passed resolutions assert- 
ing (i) that the people of Cuba are and of right ought to 

be free and independent ; 

(2) that it is the duty of 
the United States to de- 
mand the withdrawal of 
Spain from the island ; 

(3) that the President is 
authorized to compel 
Spain's withdrawal ; and 

(4) that the United States 
has no intention to absorb 
Cuba, but is determined 
" to leave the government 
and control of the island 
to its people." April 20 

a final proposition setting forth this decision was cabled to 
General Woodford, American minister at Madrid. But be- 
fore he could present it, he was informed by the Spanish 
government that diplomatic relations between the two powers 
had come to an end. 

Sentiment in the United States was divided, that was 
clear. Many persons thought that war was unnecessary; 
Spain could be brought to reason without it. War once 
declared, the whole nation, with scarcely an exception, pre- 
pared energetically to support the government. The last 
appearance of sectional divisions ceased. Moreover, it was 
seen that now, after more than one hundred years of dis- 
cord, the interests of the United States and of Great Britain 
were at last the same. 




Admiral Dewey 



[898] 



The War on the Sea 



551 




W. T. Sampson 



422. The War on the Sea. — The first decisive engage- Rattle of 

ment with the Spanish forces was not in Cuban waters, or ^^=i"''<i Kay, 

anywhere near them, but took place thousands of miles ^ ^ ' 

away in the Philippines. In the 

early morning of May ist, 1898, 

Admiral Dewey with the American 

Asiatic fleet entered Manila Bay 

and found the Spanish-Philippine 

fleet at anchor under the guns of 

the arsenal atCavite (Ca-vee'-tay), 

a few miles from the city of Manila. 

Dewey at once opened fire, and in 

a few hours destroyed or captured 

all the Spanish vessels. He now 

had the city of Manila at his mercy. 

But he could not spare enough 

men from his ships to maintain 

order in the city, when captured, 

and to defend it from attack on the side away from the water. 

He blockaded it and awaited the coming of soldiers, who 
were speedily sent from the United 
States under General Merritt. 

Admiral Sampson and Commo- The War in 
dore Schley had a more difficult 1^^ West 

-' . Indies. 

part to perform. With the assist- 
ance of a coast patrol they had to 
protect the Atlantic seaboard, guard 
any transports with soldiers that 
might be sent to the West Indies, 
l)lockade Cuba, and destroy any 
fleet that Spain might send to this 
side of the Atlantic. With the 
Spanish vessels already in American 
waters, they had no trouble. The 
smaller vessels of the American 
fleet were able to destroy such of them as ventured to leave 
port. But Spain possessed half-a-dozen modern armored 



K^p."' 




W. S. Schley 




Battleship Iowa in Dry Dock 



The War on the Sea 553 

cruisers of high speed and heavily armed. Four of them, 
with three sea-going torpedo boats, were sent across the 
Atlantic under Admiral Cervera (thar-va-ra). For a time he 
eluded the search of the American commanders and then 
entered the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. There he was im- 
mediately blockaded by the combined fleets of Sampson and 
Schley. The Americans had four battleships, the /o7mi, 
Indiana, Massachusetts, and Texas, and two armored cruis- 
ers, the New York and Brooklyn. To them, while Cervera 
was sailing around the Caribbean Sea, came the Oregon. 
This battleship was built on the Pacific coast. When the 
Maine was destroyed, the Oregon was ordered to make the 
best of her way to the Atlantic seaboard. Week after week 
she steamed through the Pacific, passed the Straits of Magel- 
lan, and sailed up the eastern coast of South America, reach- 
ing Key West after the most splendid voyage ever made by 
a battleship. She at once took her place in the fighting line. 

The entrance to Santiago harbor is long and is blocked by Spanish fleet 

huge mountainous masses, through which a narrow strait leads destroyed, 

July 3, 1898. 
to the sea. It was so narrow and crooked and so well 

defended that the naval authorities were unwilling to risk the 
American ships by forcing a passage. An attempt was made 
to stop the entrance to the harbor by sinking a collier in the 
narrowest part of the channel. This failing, it was necessary 
to capture Santiago and drive the Spanish ships out or sink 
them by batteries from the shore. An army under General 
Shafter was quickly sent to Santiago. Before he captured 
the city, Cervera suddenly put to sea, Sunday, July 3, and 
steered to the westward. A one-sided running fight took 
place. Soon the cruiser Maria Theresa was disabled and 
set on fire. Then followed in rapid succession the destruc- 
tion of the torpedo boats and of the cruisers Almirante 
Oquendo and Viscaya. One cruiser, the Cristobal Colon, 
maintained the sea for a few hours, because she was so 
fast. But she too was finally forced to surrender and was 
sunk by her crew before the American sailors could take 
possession. A whole fleet was thus destroyed in a few hours. 



554 



National Development 



[§422 



Meantime Spain had sent a few warships through the Suez 
Canal. It was said that they were to go to the Phihppines 
to dispute for those islands with Admiral Dewey's fleet. But 
the news of the destruction of Cervera's vessels and the 
threat to send an American squadron to Spain induced the 
Spanish government to order them to return to Spain. 




The lessons. 



In the Trenches before Santiago 

Such in brief is the story of the principal doings of the 
American navy. Never, perhaps, in the history of the world, 
has sea power so forcibly and so completely asserted itself. 
The lesson is one full of instruction to the American people. 
Furthermore, in all these naval operations, in the creation 
of a whole fleet of blockaders and cruisers, in caring for the 



556 



National Development 



[§423 



Organization 
of the army. 



Santiago, 

June-July, 

1898. 




Nelson A. Miles 



health of the men, and in fighting the enemy, there was not 
one false step. 

423. The Land Campaigns. — As soon as war was declared, 
President McKinley called for vol- 
unteers, and later he issued a sec- 
ond call. In all, over two hundred 
thousand volunteers were mustered 
into the service. Veterans of the 
Civil War, on both sides of that 
terrible strife, furnished excellent 
officers. Oftentimes, however, in- 
experienced men were placed in 
charge of companies and regi- 
ments. The result was soon ap- 
parent in the terrible state of the 
health of the soldiers of many regi- 
ments. Furthermore, the army had 
no great magazines filled with modern weapons and mod- 
ern munitions of war. Volunteer regiments were armed 
with old-fashioned weapons, which placed them at great 
disadvantage with the Spaniards. 
Young men of all walks of life 
eagerly offered their services. Mili- 
tia regiments volunteered in bulk 
or most of the members of such 
regiments were enrolled in new regi- 
ments with the same designation. 
The regular army was recruited to its 
full strength and brought to the east. 
On June 22 and 23 fifteen thou- 
sand men under General W. R. 
Shafter landed on the coast not far 
to the east of the entrance to San- 
tiago harbor. Most of these soldiers 

were regulars. But there were several volunteer regiments, 
among them Roosevelt's "Rough Riders." June 24, the 
soldiers advancing toward Santiago came across the Span- 




Wesley Merritt 



[898] 



The Land Campaigns 



SSI 



iards, and a hot skirmish took place. In the end the en- 
emy was driven away. The roads were poor. The country 
was rough. The heat was terrible. To add to all these 
obstacles the rains set in. Nevertheless, the heroic little 
army pressed forward, and in a few days was within three 
or four miles of the city. On July i Caney and San Juan 
(san-hwan), two strongly fortified hills, were carried by 
assault. The American loss was heavy, for the soldiers 
were obliged to charge across valleys and up steep hills 
in face of a murderous fire from the Spaniards stationed in 
blockhouses and in rifle pits. Reinforcements were hur- 
ried to Shafter's aid. The 
lines were drawn around the 
city until the intrenchments 
stretched for eight miles. The 
Cuban insurgents blocked the 
roads by which reinforcements 
might reach the city. The 
warships threw shells over the 
hills, and guns were placed in 
position, commanding the de- 
fenses. The garrison surren- 
dered on condition of being 
transported to Spain at the 
expense of the United States. 
With the soldiers actually in 
Santiago were surrendered 

others in outlying garrisons in eastern Cuba. July 1 7 Shafter 
entered the city. 

The surrender came in good time, for the condition of Condition of 
the American soldiers was deplorable. Clad in clothes un- 
suited to the climate, fed on food equally unsuited to the 
climate, and often not fed at all, the men stood hour after 
hour ankle deep in mud, — sometimes knee deep in water, 
— exposed to the sun and the rain. At night they slept on 
the water-soaked ground without shelter from the evening 
mists. Fevers attacked them, and those who recovered 




W, R. Shafter 



the soldiers. 



558 



National Development 



[§424 



Invasion of 
Porto Rico, 
August, T898 



Capture of 
Manila, 
August 13, 



Signing of 
the protocol, 
August 12, 
1898. 



were often too weak to resist ordinary diseases and the 
terrible scourge of Cuba, — yellow fever. Other regiments 
were sent to take their places, and the heroes of Santiago 
were brought north to a camp on Long Island. 

Cervera's fleet destroyed, and Santiago captured, General 
Nelson A. Miles, a veteran of the Civil War and now com- 
manding the United States army, led an expedition to Porto 
Rico, an island of abounding fertility and of great wealth. 
Instead of landing near San Juan, the fortified capital 
of the island, he disembarked (July 28) near Ponce (pon-tha) 
on the other side of the island, and the most important 
town of Porto Rico. Hardly a fight occurred. The Span- 
ish troops withdrew and the inhabitants warmly welcomed 
the invaders. The Americans, admirably led, pressed on 
across the island, when the approach of peace stopped 
further armed invasion. 

As soon as the news of Dewey's brilliant victory was 
received, soldiers were sent to capture and hold Manila. The 
command of the army was given to General Wesley Merritt, 
a great soldier, who, like Miles, had rendered distinguished 
service in the Civil War. It proved to be very difficult to 
secure suitable transports on the Pacific coast. The first 
expedition left California on May 25. But it was the end of 
July before the land attack on Manila was begun. Mean- 
time the insurgents, for there were insurgents in the Philip- 
pines as well as in Cuba, were blockading the city on 
the land side, while Dewey blockaded it from the water. 
July 31 the Spaniards suddenly attacked the American 
lines in the darkness of the night. After a hard fight, in 
which both regulars and volunteers did splendid work, 
the enemy was beaten off with heavy loss. Finally, on 
August 13, after more troops had arrived, Dewey and Merritt 
made a joint attack. The city sufrendered after a slight 
resistance. 

424. Conclusion of Hostilities. — July 26 the French 
ambassador at Washington, on behalf of Spain, inquired 
upon what terms peace might be had. The President stated 



Suggestive Questions and Topics 559 

the conditions. After some delay on the part of Spain these 

terms were set down in a prehminary agreement or protocol, 

as it is termed by the diplomatists. This agreement was 

signed August 12. It provided in brief (i ) that Spain should 

relinquish all claim of sovereignty and title to Cuba and cede 

to the United States Porto Rico and all other Spanish West 

India islands and the island of Guam in the Pacific. (2) The 

city, bay, and harbor of Manila should be held by the Americans 

until a final agreement as to the Phihppines should be made. The 

(3) Hostilities should immediately cease. The President at Philippines. 

once issued a proclamation directing the American armies 

to cease further aggressive operations. 

On December 10, i8g8, American and Spanish com- 
missioners signed a treaty of peace at Paris. Following 
the terms of the protocol Spain gave up all claim to 
sovereignty in Cuba and ceded Porto Rico and other 
smaller islands to the United States. Before news of the 
signing of the protocol could reach the Philippines the 
American soldiers, aided by the fleet, captured Manila. It 
was now arranged that Spain should cede the whole Philip- 
pine group to the United States and should receive twenty 
million dollars. For a time the inhabitants of the Philippine 
Islands, or some of them, desired to be an independent 
nation and resisted the armed forces of the United States. 
By 1902, however, peace was established throughout the 
islands. A new era now opened for the American people. 
Abandoning their policy of isolation, they looked out from 
their continental domains and began actively to take part in 
the affairs of the world. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 
§§ 403-409. Civil Service Reform 

a. Discuss the President's " power of removal." Can his power of 
appointment be limited by law? 

i>. State the good and the bad points of " civil service reform " and 



560 National Development 

of the " spoils system." Can you suggest any improvements in the 
present practice? 

c. What criticisms occur to you as to Cleveland's civil service 
policy ? 

§§ 410-412, 414, 415. The Tariff 

a. What are the two great sources of national revenue? Explain 
each and give arguments for and against it. Enumerate other possible 
methods of taxation and discuss their merits; which of them are for- 
bidden by the Constitution, and why? 

b. What is the difference between a revenue tariff and a protective 
tariff ? What were the two foremost protective states, and why? What 
is their attitude to-day, and why? Characterize the arguments in favor 
of the first tariff; how do they differ from present-day arguments? 

c. Take the article produced in your town that is most affected by 
the tariff and state how it has been treated by tariff makers since 1877. 

(/. Is it true that the " tariff is the mother of the trusts"? 

§§ 418, 419. SiL\ER Legislation 

a. Trace silver legislation from 1873 to 1900. What was the 
" crime against silver " ? 

l>. Why did Mr. Bryan advocate the free and unlimited coinage of 
silver? 

c. How many kinds of paper money are there in the United States? 

§§ 420-424. The Spanish War 

a. Was the war inevitable? Was it justitiable? 

b. Had you been a senator or representative, how would you have 
voted on the resolution of April 19? Give your reasons in full. 

c. Comment on the statement that " never, perhaps, in the history of 
the world, has sea power so forcibly and so completely asserted itself." 

d. Why are the Hawaiian Islands of strategic importance? 

e. Do you think that the United States should or should not have 
"colonies "? What are the reasons for your opinion? 

General Question 

Trace the growth of the United States from 1783 to the present 
day. State as to each accession the precise reason for securing it and 
the consequences which have resulted from it. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES, 1898-1913 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Johnston and Woodburn's American Political 
History; Garner and Lodge's History of the United States; Peck's 
Last Twenty Years of the Republic, i88j-igoj ; Stanwood's History of 
the Presidency from iSgj-iqog. 

Special Accounts. — J. R. H. Moore's Att Industrial History of 
the American People ; D. R. Dewey's Financial History of the United 
States; Beard and Shultz's Documents on the Initiative; Munro's Ini- 
tiative, Refere7tdum, and Recall; Bradford's Commission Government 
in American Cities; Bullock's General Property Tax in the Unitea 
States. Definite information may be found in The New International 
Year Book; The American Statesman's Yearbook; or The American 
Year Book. 

Sources. — J. D. Richardson's Messages and Papers of the Presi- 
dents ; MacDonald's Documentary Source Book. 

Bibliography. — Guide to American History, §§ 266-274. 

Illustrative Material. — Roosevelt's American Ideals and The New 
Nationalism ; W. H. Taft's Political Issues and Outlooks; W. Wilson's 
The New Freedom; W. J. Bryan's The Commoner Condensed ; R. M. 
La Follette's Personal Narrative ; T. L. Johnson's My Story. 

THE UNITED STATES IN OUR OWN TIMES, 1898-1913 
425. The New Outlook. — The close of the Spanish War New 
brought upon the United States many new obHgations and P'" 
necessitated a revision of the traditional policies of the na- 
tion. The acquisition of territory far removed from the 
continental domain required a strong army and navy for its 
defense and a new administrative organization for its govern- 
ment. At home, the new markets that were thus opened 
and the stimulus given to trade and manufacturing by the 
war itself and by the action of the high protective tariff 
20 56X 



562 The United States in Our Oivn Times [§ 426 



An enlarged 
army and 
navy. 



The " Teller 
Amend- 
ment." 



Relations 
with Cuba. 



brought forward many problems that have proved to be very 
difificult of solution, and are not yet solved. 

In recent years the dying down of Indian hostilities had 
led to reductions in the military forces ; but now these had 
to be greatly enlarged, for the natives of the Philippines had 
to be reckoned with and the distance of the new territories 
from the home land required the presence of considerable 
garrisons. Since 1900, therefore, the army has been kept at 
seventy-five thousand men or over. The navy also has been 
greatly increased, so that now the United States maintains, 
in times of peace, a greater naval force than it had during 
the war with Spain. Moreover, the cost of the new services 
is greatly increased owing to the elaborate equipment re- 
quired and to the high prices that have prevailed in recent 
years. New naval bases have also been established in Cuba 
and at several places in the Pacific, and the opening of 
the Panama Canal will necessitate still further military and 
naval expenditure. 

426. Relations with Cuba. — At the outset of the 
Spanish War, the United States disclaimed any intention to 
exercise sovereignty or control over Cuba, except for the 
pacification thereof, and asserted that whenever that might 
be accomplished it would turn over the government of the 
island to the Cubans. After the close of the war the gov- 
ernment of the island was placed temporarily in the hands 
of army officers, at first General John R. Brooke and, later, 
General Leonard A. Wood. In 1900 a convention of dele- 
gates was held to frame a constitution for Cuba. It soon 
appeared that the delegates intended to avoid any recogni- 
tion of the obligations of the Cubans to the people of the 
United States. Congress thereupon (February, 1901) by an 
amendment to the Army Appropriation Bill reasserted the 
determination of the United States to hand over the island 
to the Cuban people whenever they adopted a constitution 
providing that the government of the island shall never enter 
into a treaty which shall impair the independence of the 
Cubans or give any foreign nation a foothold on the island : 



iSgS] The Annexation of Hawaii 563 

shall recognize the right of the United States to intervene 
for the maintenance of government adequate for the protec- 
tion of life, property, and individual liberty, and for the pay- 
ment of its debts ; shall recognize the vaUdity of the acts of 
the United States during its military occupation of the island ; 
and shall sell or lease lands to the United States for naval 
purposes and make a treaty embodying these provisions. 
After much opposition these conditions were incorporated 
in the Cuban constitution. The island was then handed over 
to the Cubans (July 4, 1902). These arrangements were 
also confirmed by treaty which gave commercial privileges to 
Cuban producers in the markets of the United States in re- 
turn for lower duties on our products on importation into the 
island. 

In 1906 the re-election of Seilor Palma as president of the 
Cuban Republic was the signal for a fresh insurrection in the 
island. In September it became evident that the Cuban gov- 
ernment could not protect life and property. United States 
marines were landed and the Cubans were warned that 
peace must be re-established or the United States would 
intervene. As the disturbances continued, soldiers and a 
governor-general were sent to the island. Cuban laws and 
officers were continued wherever possible and in 1909 the 
whole government of Cuba was restored to its inhabitants. 
Since then there has been no actual intervention ; but the 
authorities at Washington have found it necessary more 
than once to caution the Cuban administration in no un- 
certain language that it might be necessary again to occupy 
the island. 

427. The Annexation of Hawaii. — -The Sandwich Islands, 
or Hawaii, situated in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, had 
been used by American whalemen as a convenient port for 
obtaining supplies and refitting their ships. Hard in the 
wake of the whale men had come the missionaries. These Downfall ol 
converted the natives to Christianity. Their descendants '^^"^^^'^^y. 
remained on the island and became prosperous producers 1893- 
of sugar. For many years, under the wise rule of the native 



564 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 428 



king, the Havvaiians of all races lived happily together. In 
1893 Queen Liliuokalani undertook to overthrow the liberal 
constitution that her father had established. Upon this the 
whites dethroned her, established a provisional government, 
and sent commissioners to Washington to seek annexation 

to the United 
States. A treaty 
was at once drawn 
up and submitted 
to the Senate by 
Harrison, less than 
three weeks before 
the close of his 
term of office. 
That body hesi- 
tated to act, and 
the treaty was un- 
confirmed when 
Cleveland was in- 
augurated. He 
withdrew the 
treaty and sent a 
commissioner to 
Hawaii to try to 
restore harmony. 
In this he was un- 
successful because 
Liliuokalani would be satisfied with nothing less than the 
heads of her enemies. These now established a republic 
which Cleveland was obliged to recognize. After the battle 
of Manila Bay in the Philippines (§ 422), the Hawaiian Islands 
Documentary became of great strategic importance to the United States and 
No'^186^'''"^' ^'^'^^ formally annexed by joint resolution on July 7, 1898. 
428. The Outlying National Domain. — Besides Hawaii, 
which has a territorial form of government, there are the 
Philippines, Guam, Tutuila, Wake, Howland, and Manual, 
islands in the Pacific ; Porto Rico and smaller islands in 



Hawaii 
annexed, 
1898. Mac- 
Donald's 




Street in Honolulu 



The Outlying National Domain 565 

the West Indies, and Alaska with the Aleutian Islands in the 
Far Northwest. An interesting question has arisen as to the 
constitutional standing of the inhabitants of these islands. 
Are they citizens or aliens and what are their rights under 
the Constitution? The Supreme Court decided that they 
are not aliens ; but that, nevertheless. Congress possesses the 
power to legislate for the goyernraent of the new possessions 
in any way it deems fitting. The government of these outly- 
ing domains is being slowly worked out. The smaller Pacific 
islands are governed directly by ofificers of the navy. The Phil- 
ippines and Porto Rico have representative assemblies which 
give expression to the wishes of their inhabitants, and each 
has an elaborate judicial organization. Alaska in 1906 was 
given a territorial form of government with a delegate in 
Congress; and in August, 191 2, it was given a legislative 
assembly. 

Besides sustaining intimate relations with Cuba, the 
United States has vague obligations with regard to other 
American and West Indian states. The attempt of Presi- 
dent Cleveland to set aright the relations of Venezuela 
and Great Britain has already been noted (§ 417). In 1902 
Great Britain, Germany, and Italy sent naval vessels to 
Venezuela. They blockaded some of the ports of that 
country and the Germans opened fire upon one of the coast 
towns. This action was taken to compel Venezuela to set 
apart some of its annual revenue for the payment of debts 
due to the people of those countries. Understanding that 
no permanent acquisition of Venezuelan soil was contem- 
plated by these powers, the United States acquiesced in these 
proceedings. Upon this Venezuela consented to set apart 
the customs duties collected at certain specified ports for 
the payment of its debts to foreigners. 

Several times the government has landed parties of ma- 
rines and blue jackets to restrain warring factions in Central 
American Republics. With the negro republic of Santo 
Domingo relations have been even more intimate. In the 
course of years, successive rulers of that island had con- 



566 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 429 

tracted large debts to European creditors. These it could 
not repay ; nor did the republic meet the interest on the 
bonds when it became due. In 1905 President Roosevelt 
brought about an agreement between the Santo Domingan 
republic and its creditors by which these debts were to be 
considerably reduced on condition that the customs revenue 
should be collected by an official from the United States and 




Congested 
centers of 
population. 



Brooklyn Bridge 

divided between the government of the island and the for- 
eign creditors. In 1907 this arrangement was embodied 
in a treaty between the United States and Santo Domingo. 
429. Growth of Cities and Towns. — Side by side with 
these serious problems of government in the outlying do- 
mains the American people have had to face many difficult 
administrative and social problems. One result of the 
great development in manufacturing that marked the last 
quarter century has been to crowd manufacturing establish- 
ments together in certain regions and to bring thither great 
masses of operatives. Thus Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania is 



1910] Steel and Cotton 567 

the seat of immense steel mills, while Lowell, Lawrence, and 
Fall River in Massachusetts are crowded with factories for 
the spinning and weaving of cotton cloth. These examples 
might be continued almost indefinitely. Moreover, New 
York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, and 
many other cities have become each the scene of diversified 
manufacturing enterprises, — the making of women's gar- 
ments, the turning out of small metal articles, and the 
canning of partly cooked food stuffs ; these and other minor 
industries have sought the great centers of human life 
because labor is cheap in those places of congested humanity. 
Immigration has been very large in these years, but the 
newcomers have not gone out into the country and worked 
on the farms. Listead they have closely clung to the great 
cities and to those towns that are peculiarly devoted to 
manufacturing. There they live together as closely as in 
their own homelands. Moreover, there has been a constant 
inflowing of native born Americans from the farms and 
towns of the country to the great centers of industry. In- New York, 
deed, in 19 10, six and one half million human beings were ^^lo- 
living within twenty-five miles of the New York city hall, — 
fifty per cent more people than there were in the whole 
United States when President Washington was inaugurated 
there in April, 1789. 

430. Steel and Cotton. — In the quarter century covered steel 
in this chapter, the increase in the production of steel has '"^kmg. 
been most memorable. Before 1S75, the rails that were 
used on our steam roads came for the most part from Great 
Britain. By 1892 as much iron and steel was exported as 
was imported ; and a few years later steel was being made 
more cheaply in the United States than anywhere else in the 
world. No less than ten billion tons of steel were produced 
in 1900 as against one billion tons in 1880. This great 
expansion was made possible by improvements in machinery 
and manufacturing processes and by a greater intensity of 
application on the part of the workers. It was due also to 
the discovery of great bodies of rich iron ore in the country 



568 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 431 



Southern 
cotton mills. 



Trolley car 
and auto- 
mobile. 



to the west of Lake Superior. These ores are transported 
by rail and steamer to the furnaces in Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania, and there worked up into steel fabrics of all kinds. 
The South has shared in this development. In Alabama 
and Tennessee, large and easily available deposits of iron 
and coal lie near together. These have been utilized and 
have led to the rise of great industrial cities in the South. 

The most important manufacturing development of the 
South has been in the spinning and weaving of cotton. 
Mills have been built near the great water powers and the 
supply of cotton has been drawn from near-by fields. North- 
ern capital, and, in the beginning, northern officials played 
an important part. The operatives have been drawn from 
the poorer portion of the population which has been unable 
to labor in the fields, side by side with the negroes. These 
whites lived in the mountains and in the piedmont regions 
and were very ignorant and very poor. The introduction 
of manufacturing brought them and their children from the 
back country into villages where something has been done 
to bring to them some measure of modern life. What with 
the establishment of the steel and cotton industries in the 
South that region is no longer given over to agriculture. 

431. Suburban Development. — The tremendous growth 
of cities has been accompanied by the occupation of the 
surrounding country by great numbers of people for 
residential purposes. This has been made possible by the 
application of electricity to the propulsion of street cars 
and the perfecting of the automobile, until it has become 
a reliable vehicle for the transportation of passengers and 
goods. A device for the propulsion of cars by electricity 
was shown at Philadelphia in 1876 (§ 400), but it was not 
until a dozefi years later that the commercial practicability 
of the system was demonstrated at Boston. Since then it 
has spread with great rapidity. As the number of trolley 
cars has increased and the streets have become crowded, 
the cars have been run on elevated roads or placed in 
subways constructed under the streets. 




569 



57© The United States in Our Own Times [§ 432 



Electric 
lighting and 
the tele- 
phone. 



The Knights 
of Labor. 



The Federa- 
tionof Labor. 



In the same period the appUcation of electricity to the 
lighting of streets and buildings has likewise undergone 
a marvellous development, so that now night is almost 
turned into day and people work and play long after sun- 
down. The telephone, as an easy means of communication, 
has greatly assisted the spreading out of the population. 
Now, the head of a manufacturing or business enterprise 
can sit in his office and carry on his affairs although his 
factories and stores may be miles away. But the personal 
contact between employer and employee has been lost, 
which accounts in very great measure for the recurring 
conflicts between labor and capital within the last few years. 

432. Organized Labor. — Societies of working men and 
women for the improvement of the conditions under which 
they live and labor came prominently into notice during 
the Civil War, but it was not until a dozen years later that 
they showed great strength. A strike of the railroad em- 
ployees at Chicago in 1877 was the first great demonstration 
of the power and community of interest of organized labor. 
Two years later, a society called the Knights of Labor was 
founded for the ethical and material advancement of all 
kinds of hand workers. It grew with great rapidity until 
it had a million names on its rolls. This success was due in 
very great measure to the wise counsels of its leader, 
Terence V. Powderly. Then the radicals gained power in 
many of its branches. Innumerable strikes were under- 
taken. Some of them succeeded, but others failed. It 
has been largely replaced by the Federation of Labor which 
is based on the trades unions. Each branch of industry 
has its own organization, as the Amalgamated Association of 
Iron and Steel Workers, which covers the whole country. All 
these organizations in one city are united through one council 
called the Central Labor Union. The national federation 
has its own officers and holds annual meetings of delegates 
from all over the country. The president of this great feder- 
ation is Samuel Gompers, an immigrant from England where 
trades unions have been very strong and successful. 



igoil Assassination of President MeKinley 571 

Within the last few years, still another labor organization, Iho indus- 
the Industrial Workers of the World, has come into public trial Workers 

1 • ,11-1 r 1 1 • 1 r , ■ of the World. 

notice. In this, all kinds of laborers are united for their 

material advancement. As a rule up to the present time 

labor organizations in the United States have kept out of 

politics and have relied upon public opinion for the 

advancement of their interests. 

433. The Election of 1900. — President MeKinley was MeKinley 

renominated by the Republicans on a platform declaring ^""^ 

, , , , , ,, ,. , . ,. Roosevelt. 

for the gold standard and generally commending his pohcy. 

For Vice-President, the party leaders picked out Theodore 
Roosevelt. A man of means and education, he had entered 
political life and had rendered good service to the people 
as Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy, Lieutenant Colonel of the Rough Riders in the war with 
Spain and, lastly, as governor of New York. The vice- 
presidency had come to be regarded as a graveyard for 
politicians. Roosevelt had no wish to be nominated for 
that office, which was forced upon him by men who hoped 
in this way to put an end to his aspirations for the higher 
place. William J. Bryan was again the Democratic nom- 
inee on a platform which advocated the free coinage of 
silver and denounced imperiahsm. Besides these nomi- 
nations, the Prohibition, Social Democratic, Socialist Labor, 
Mid-Road Populist, Union Reform, and United Christian 
parties made nominations. The Prohibitionists polled over 
two hundred thousand votes in a total of nearly fourteen 
millions and all the other minor parties put together about 
two hundred thousand more. The fight was between Me- 
Kinley and Bryan. The former won, receiving 292 electoral 
votes to 155 for Bryan. 

434. Assassination of President MeKinley, 1901. — In Death of 
September, 1901, President MeKinley was assassinated while McKm ey. 
holding a reception in connection with the Pan-American j^_ j^^j. 
Exposition at Buffiilo. His death, on September 14, was 
the signal for an unparalleled exhibition of feeling. Meet- 
ings were held all over the country to pay tribute to his 



572 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 434 

memory. At the moment of his funeral, business ceased 
and in many places people stood with bared heads during 
the time of his interment. In England, public meetings 
were also held as a mark of respect for his memory. Such 
a tribute had been paid to no one since the death of 




William McKinley 

Washington, which had been noticed in France ; but this 
was the first time that English people had shown such 
respect for an American. 

On McKinley's death Vice-President Roosevelt became 
President. He at once announced his intention of con- 
tinuing his predecessor's policies and asked the members 



I goo 



Intervention in Foreign Affairs 



573 



and the Coal 
Strike, 1902. 



of the cabinet to retain their places. In a short time he 
went way beyond what McKinley would probably have 
sanctioned by advocating a great increase in the exercise 
of power by the federal government. This was especially Roosevelt 
noticeable in his interference to end the strike of miners 
engaged in the anthracite coal industry. This labor dispute 
began in the spring of 1902, and was still unsettled in the 
following October. 
Great hardship for 
the lack of fuel was 
likely to be caused 
in the North where 
this fuel was largely 
used for the heating 
of houses. Presi- 
dent Roosevelt ap- 
pointed five com- 
missioners to hear 
the contending par- 
ties and to propose, 
if possible, a basis of 
settlement between 
them, on the un- 
derstanding that, 
meanwhile, the strik- 
ing miners should 
return to work. In 

this way suffering was lessened and Congress, by voting 
money for the salaries and expenses of the Commission, 
ratified the action of the President. 

435. Intervention in Foreign Affairs.— The United States 
began to intervene in the affairs of the outer world as it had 
never done before. The turn of the century saw a rising 
spirit of unrest in China which ended in a movement against 
the introduction of foreign methods in modern reform that American 
is known as the Boxer Rebellion (1900). Ultimately this p^^J^'^^^ 
took the form of an attack on the foreign embassies 




Theodore Roosevelt 



574 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 436 



Treaty of 

Portsmouth, 

1905- 



I he " seal- 
fishery." 



in Pekin, the capital of China. The United States, the 
principal nations of Europe, and Japan united to rescue 
their representatives from the Chinese. This was done with 
some difficulty ; but the incident is especially interesting to 
Americans because it was the first time that any consider- 
able body of American soldiers found themselves acting in 
company with troops from Russia, Germany, France, Great 
Britain, and Japan, or, indeed, from any foreign country. It 
marks the entrance of the United States into the arena as 
a World Power and the breaking down of that policy of 
isolation which was dear to Washington and to Jefferson ; 
but it is quite possible that if these great men were now 
living, they would view the matter very differently from what 
they did one hundred and more years ago. 

Another example of the interference of the United States 
in the affairs of the world at large occurred in 1905, when 
President Roosevelt urged the Russians and Japanese, who 
were then warring with each other, to put an end to their 
strife. He thought that it was the " interest not only of 
these two great Powers, but of all civilized mankind, that a 
just and lasting peace may speedily be concluded between 
them." After conferences which continued for nearly a 
month, a treaty was signed, September 5, 1905. Again, 
Mr. Roosevelt pressed heavily for the avoidance of war by 
bringing about the assembling of the Second International 
Peace Congress at the Hague in 1907. At this meeting 
many important improvements in international relations 
were proposed ; but few of these have iDeen accepted by 
Great Britain and other leading powers. 

436. Alaska and its Resources. — Up to the end of the 
nineteenth century, Alaska had been valued chiefly on 
account of the fur seals that were captured on the Pribilof 
Islands which stand in the midst of Bering Sea. More 
than twelve million dollars' worth of furs were taken from 
the seals, but there was constant irritation with Great Brit- 
ain, for the Canadians claimed the right to capture the seals 
while on the way to and from the islands. We tried to 



[QOSI 



Alaska and its Resources 



575 



meet this by declaring Bering Sea to be an " enclosed 
water" over which the United States was supreme. The 
dispute was submitted to arbitration and decided against us. 
Since then regulations have been adopted for the preserva- 
tion of the seals. In the winter of 1896-97, gold was 
discovered along the eastern boundary of Alaska and espe- 
cially along the Klondike River, a Canadian branch of the 




Valdez, Alaska 

Yukon River. The latter flows through Alaska for two thou- 
sand miles or so but the Klondike is on the eastern side of the 
boundary. Soon millions of dollars' worth of gold dust 
began coming from this region and also from Cape Nome 
on the west coast of Alaska. The easiest way to the Klon- Gold onjhe 
dike was through United States territory and over the 
Chilcat Pass to the valley of the Upper Yukon. Disputes 
at once began as to the precise boundary of the southern 
extension of Alaska along the seacoast. This also was sub- 



576 The United States in Our Own Times [§437 



Coal. 



Panama and 

Nicaragua 

routes. 



mitted to arbitration and decided in favor of the United 
States (1913). 

Besides fur seals and gold, Alaska has proved to be rich 
in many ways. Recently beds of coal have been discovered 
there. When these are made available by the construction 
of railroads from tide water, there will be an abundant 
supply of coal for the manufacturing establishments of the 
Pacific slope, for domestic purposes, and for ships of war 
and vessels engaged in commerce. Many parts of Alaska 
possess most striking and picturesque scenery. Every year 
this region is more and more sought by tourists. On some 
of the islands there are volcanoes of extraordinary activity 
which have given an added scientific interest to this part 
of the United States. With the opening of the Panama 
Canal, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific slope will be more 
accessible to the people of the older parts of the United 
States and of Europe. 

437. The Panama Canal. — Almost from the time of the 
discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Balboa, proposals have 
been made for digging a canal across the Isthmus of 
Panama. The distance between the two oceans at this 
point is only forty-six miles in a straight line, and the crest 
of the divide is three hundred feet above tide water. The 
difficulties offered by the rivers of that region, which are 
subject to sudden floods, and by tropical diseases which are 
particularly virulent there, put off the carrying out of this 
project for centuries and directed the attention of engineers 
to other possible routes between the oceans. Of these the 
Nicaragua route seemed to be the most feasible. This was 
much farther to the north and a navigable lake and river 
seemed to be designed by nature as an aid to the enterprise. 
In 1 88 1, Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French engineer under 
whose direction the Suez Canal had been dug, undertook 
the cutting of a sea level canal across the Isthmus of 
Panama. There was great misuse of funds in France and at 
Panama and tropical diseases wrought havoc with the work- 
ing force on the isthmus. After a great deal of money had 



1Q04] Progress of the Panama Canal 577 

been spent, this plan was abandoned and a second French 
company undertook the construction of a canal with locks. 
By this time the acquisition of Hawaii and the PhiHppines 
had aroused the interest of the people of the United States 
in providing some means of water communication between 
the Atlantic and the Pacific other than the route around 
Cape Horn or through Magellan Strait. Commissions 
were appointed which reported in favor of the Nicaragua 
route, but one of the reasons for the favorable report was 
the impossibility of buying out the rights of the French 
company at any reasonable price. The evident determi- 
nation of the United States to construct a rival canal induced 
the Frenchmen to come forward with a proposal to sell the 
rights that they had acquired from the government of 
Colombia and the partly dug canal for forty million dollars. 
President Roosevelt eagerly grasped at this opportunity, 
but when everything had been arranged with the French- 
men, the Colombians refused to assent to the transfer unless 
the United States would pay them a great deal more money 
than it had proposed to pay. The probable failure of the The Panama 
plan aroused the people of Panama to action. They re- Republic, 
belled against Colombia and established a republic of their 
own, which was speedily recognized by the United States and 
later by other powers. President Roosevelt even stationed 
men-of-war to prevent the Colombians sending troops to 
Panama, which they could only do by water owing to a 
mountainous and roadless intervening region. The Panama 
Republic heartily accepted the offers of the United States 
and furthermore agreed to cede to the American govern- 
ment a strip of land five miles wide on either side of the canal 
and whatever other land might be necessary for the completion 
of the work. For this the United States was to pay ten million 
dollars down and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a 
year, beginning with 1 9 1 3 . This arrangement was concluded 
in 1904 and work on the canal was immediately begun. 

438. Progress of the Panama Canal. — The main obstacles 
in the completion of this great work were the climate and the 

2P 




57« 



1904] 



The Election of 1Q04 



579 



The 

Chagres 

River. 



Chagres River. The former was peculiarly favorable to the 

development of malaria and yellow fever. It had recently Sanitation. 

been discovered that these diseases were spread by two well 

marked varieties of mosquito. By the expenditure of millions 

of dollars under Major Gorgas of the medical department 

of the army, these diseases have been practically eradicated 

from the Canal Zone and from Panama itself, with the result 

that the workmen on' the canal have enjoyed a degree of 

health and vigor such as has never before been associated 

with labor in the tropics. The Chagres River is fed by 

streams coming down mountain slopes where the rainfall 

sometimes is extraordinary. It has been known to rise 

thirty feet in an almost incredible space of time. It comes 

out of its mountain valley at right angles to the line of the 

canal and then follows the same general course to the 

Caribbean Sea. This problem has been met by building a 

canal with locks and converting the middle part of the 

Chagres course into a great lake which will take care of the 

sudden changes in the amount of the water discharged by 

the rivers. The task of removing the enormous amount of 

earth and building the locks and dams necessary for the 

work has been carried out by a succession of exceedingly 

able engineers, the last of whom was Colonel Goethals of 

the regular army. Only the tremendous development of the 

engineering art in the last quarter of a century has made 

possible the speedy carrying out of this great task. 

439. The Election of 1904 — For the first time in the his- 
tory of the country a Vice-President who had succeeded to 
the chief place by the death of the President was himself 
nominated for that high office. Roosevelt had made a dis- 
tinct impression by his fearless advocacy of whatever seemed 
to him to be right, and the death of Senator Mark A. Hanna 
had removed his principal competitor. At the Republican 
convention Roosevelt was nominated by acclamation, no 
ballot being taken. The platform commended his policies 
and performances and declared unequivocally for the gold 
standard. The Democrats were hard put to it for a platform 



Roosevelt re- 
nominated. 



580 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 440 



Alton B. 
Parker, the 
Democratic 
candidate. 



Regulation 
of Corpora- 



Reformation 
of abuses. 



and a candidate. P'inally, when they could not agree as to 
whether they should recognize the gold standard as an estab- 
lished thing or should again proclaim the necessity of silver, 
they made no mention of either in their platform. Mr. 
Bryan had been the Democratic candidate on two occasions. 
He dominated this convention, but a new candidate was 
determined upon, Alton B. Parker of New York. He was 
chief justice of the court of appeals of that state and 
had not been especially prominent in politics. He startled 
the convention by sending a telegram stating that he was in 
favor of the gold standard, and if this was unsatisfactory to 
the delegates, they would better choose some other candi- 
date. After bitter debate word was sent to him that there 
was nothing in his vieWs to forbid his accepting the nomina- 
tion. With the Democratic party divided and apathetic 
and the Republicans united and full of enthusiasm, there was 
not much doubt as to the outcome of the campaign. Mr. 
Parker made very few speeches, but just before the election 
charged the Republicans with having made the most lavish 
expenditure in political history. Roosevelt received 343 
electoral votes to only 133 given to his opponent. Mr. 
Roosevelt was deeply affected by the great majority given 
to him. On the evening of the election day he declared 
that " the wise custom which limits the President to two 
terms regards the substance and not the form. Under no 
circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept another 
nomination." 

440. Roosevelt's Second Term. — For years there had 
been on the statute books two laws for the regulation of 
railroads and corporations engaged in interstate business — 
the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Anti-trust 
Law. Up to 1903, slight results had been produced by this 
legislation. Now, President Roosevelt threw himself ener- 
getically into the figlit. He sent message after message to 
Congress, he wrote letter after letter to private persons and 
to groups of citizens, he made public addresses by the score, 
and he set on foot prosecutions of corporations that were 



[goS] 



The Election of igo8 



581 



alleged to have infringed these laws. In this way he aroused 
the ethical sentiment of the nation to demand obedience 
to the law from all men, that the rich and the poor might 
have equal opportunities. Public opinion became so strong 
that Congress passed acts to strengthen the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission, to provide adequate penalties for giving 
rebates or other advantages to large shippers, and to reform 
many abuses in the 
preparation and dis- 
tribution of medi- 
cines and articles of 
food. Some persons 
thought that these 
demands and laws 
savored of paternal- 
ism, in that the gen- 
eral government at 
Washington, instead 
of leaving the states 
and the individual 
citizens to work out 
their own salvation, 
undertook to exercise 
an overstrict super- 
vision of their affairs. Mr. Roosevelt kept on, however, and 
the mass of the people seemed to agree with him. Congress 
also provided by law for a more rigid inspection of immi- 
grants arriving from abroad, and enlarged the list of reasons 
for excluding undesirable persons. It is noticeable that 
no effort was made either by President or by Congress 
to reform the tariff. 

441. The Election of 1908. — William J. Bryan of Ne- 
braska for the third time became the Democratic candidate 
for President on a platform of which a protest against the 
prevailing imperialism was the most important 
The Republican candidate was William H 
He had proved himself to be an able 




William H. Taft 



Bryan and 
Taft. 



feature. 
Taft of Ohio, 
administrator as 



582 The United States In Our Own Times [§ 442 



Another 
tariff revi- 
sion, 1909. 



governor-general of the Philippine Islands in a time of 
great difficulty. At the moment he was Secretary of War. 
He had direct charge of the construction of the Panama 
Canal, and was one of President Roosevelt's most trusted 
advisers. Besides representing the " Roosevelt policies," 
Mr. Taft stood for the reformation of the tariff, which was 
put forward in the Republican platform as being distinctly 
urgent. Taft was chosen by an overwhelming popular vote, 
and he received two thirds of the electoral votes. In state 
and congressional elections the Democrats were more suc- 
cessful. One result of this was a serious diminution of the 
Republican majority in both Houses of Congress. More- 
over, on the Republican side were Progressives, who stood 
for more advanced ideas than were held by the mass of 
their party associates. All these things pointed to a diffi- 
cult administration for President Taft. 

442. The Aldrich Tariff. — The President at once sum- 
moned Congress to meet in special session for the revision 
of the tariff. The intention of the framers of the Constitu- 
tion seems to have been to give the initiation of financial 
matters to the House of Representatives. The Senate was 
not forbidden to amend money bills, and it has always 
made extensive use of this right. In this case, when the 
House tariff bill came to the Senate, that body amended it 
by striking out the whole of the House bill after the enact- 
ing clause, and inserting its own bill in the place of the 
original measure. This bill had been drawn up by a com- 
mittee of the Senate, at the head of which was Nelson W. 
Aldrich, one of the old time Republican leaders. When 
the amended bill came back to the House, a conference 
committee of the two Houses was appointed, and it was 
this body that settled the actual details of the measure as it 
was passed. At the very end President Taft intervened 
and compelled a reduction of the duties on lumber, wool, 
and leather as the price of his approval. The bill as passed 
effected many important changes in the direction of lower 
duties and some simplifications ; but a great many anomalies 



igoSl Reciprocity and Arbitration 583 

and favors to particular interests were left in the tariff sys- 
tem. 

Many people thought that the President should have vetoed The Tariff 
the tariff bill and waited for Congress to pass a more accept- Commission, 
able one. Mr. Taft thought, however, that the best plan 
would be to have a permanent tariff commission to study 
the question of wages and production in leading manufactur- 
ing industries, both at home and abroad. When this infor- 
mation was acquired and laid before Congress, it would be 
possible to reduce the tariff on one article at a time, giving 
to American manufacturers enough protection to equalize 
the cost of goods produced here and abroad, — and no more. 
Hitherto, tariffs had been remade as a whole. This gave 
the steel men, the woolen manufLicturers, the cotton spinners 
and the rest a chance to combine and, by joining forces, to 
secure a majority in both Houses. By taking one industry 
at a time and proceeding on a definite plan. President Taft 
thought that the system of protection could be slowly re- 
modeled to give a fair profit to the capitaHst, good wages 
to the operatives, and save a great deal of money to the 
people at large. The commission was appointed but, 
owing to the condition of parties in Congress, nothing was 
accomplished. 

443. Reciprocity and Arbitration Relations with Canada 

across the northern boundary were by no means as pleasant 
as seemed desirable. President Taft tried to secure a better 
understanding with our northern neighbors by negotiating a 
reciprocity treaty with the Canadian government through the 
good offices of Mr. James Bryce, the British ambassador at 
Washington, The number of articles placed on the "free 
list" as between the two countries was very large. It in- 
cluded some most important commodities which aroused 
the fears of farmers and manufacturers on both sides of the 
boundary. Congress reluctantly approved the measure ; but 
it was rejected by Canada. 

President Taft also caused a series of arbitration treaties 
to be negotiated with Great Britain and other powers. 



584 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 444 



Disintegra- 
tion of the 
" trusts." 



Railroad 
regulation. 



These too aroused opposition. The Senate made so vital 
amendments that the British treaty was unacceptable to the 
President and to Great Britain. In this way these two im- 
portant projects ended in failure. 

444. The Regulation of Corporations. — The most notable 
feature of Taft's administration was the attempt which he 
and Attorney-general Wickersham made to enforce the 
Sherman Anti-trust Law. Several prosecutions had been 
begun during Roosevelt's term of ofifice. These had not 
been pushed very far when Taft was inaugurated, but an act 
of Congress had made possible the expediting of these cases. 
Efforts in this direction were now redoubled and decrees 
were secured ordering the dissolution of the American To- 
bacco Company, the Standard Oil Com'pany, and other 
trusts. Suits were also begun against many other large cor- 
porations whose activities were held by government lawyers 
to be in restraint of trade. Up to the present time, the 
remedy provided by this law does not appear to have 
cured some of the evils that it was designed to meet. The 
government was also very active in prosecuting individuals 
and companies that used the mails for securing subscriptions 
to bogus enterprises. 

The regulation of railroads through the medium of the 
Interstate Commerce Commission was also vigorously car- 
ried forward. Standard methods of bookkeeping were 
devised and imposed on all the railroads. It is in the direc- 
tion of freight rates, however, that the work of th£ commis- 
sion has attracted most attention. It has put an end to 
many unfair and anomalous charges and has forbidden any 
increase in rates. The commission has taken up somewhat 
similar matters in connection with the express companies. 
The states, too, have strengthened the hands of public serv- 
ice commissions. What with the increase in the cost of 
living, the rise in wages, and the stringent regulations of 
many business enterprises together with the increasing 
strength of labor organizations, it is evident that we are hving 
in a time of transition. 



tgi2\ 



The Election of igi2 



585 



445. The Election of 1912 The earlier Congressional 

elections of 19 10 showed a growing dissatisfaction with 
the methods and acts of the Republican party. In the Senate, 
the regular RepubUcans outnumbered any other political 
section, but the Progressives and Democrats combined were 
more numerous, while in the House of Representatives the 
Democrats outnumbered both the other groups. The 
result was that httle 
effective legislation 
was passed and Presi- 
dent Taft came to 
the voters for re-elec- 
tion with scarcely 
more than the Aldrich 
Tariff Act and the 
anti-trust prosecu- 
tions visibly to his 
credit. In the spring 
of 1912, ex-President 
Roosevelt announced 
his intention again to 
become a candidate 
for the presidency, 
this time as leader of 
the progressive and 
reform element in the 
Republican party. 
After a prolonged and bitter contest in the convention at 
Chicago Taft was renominated for another term. Roosevelt 
and his followers thereupon withdrew from the party and 
placed him in nomination as candidate of the Progressives. 
The Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson, formerly Presi- 
dent of Princeton University and at the moment governor of 
New Jersey. The campaign was conducted with a vigor that 
has seldom been equaled in our history. When the votes 
were counted, it was found that, Wilson had received a great 
majority of the electoral votes, although Taft and Roosevelt 
together had been given more popular votes than had he. 




Woodrow Wilson 



Growing 
Democratic 
strength, 
1912. 



The 
Progressives 



586 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 446 



Popular 
unrest. 



Represen- 
tation. 



The secret 
ballot. 



446. Changing Tendencies. — ^ Within the last twenty-five 
years momentous changes have come over the political and 
social ideals of the American people. These changes have 
all been away from the model of government by representa- 
tion as set forth in nearly all of the early state constitutions 
and pre-eminently in the federal Constitution of 1787. The 
drift has been entirely toward more direct rule by the people 
as a whole. This is seen by the establishment in many states 
of the direct primary, the initiative and referendum, and the 
extension of the franchise to women. The adoption of the 
Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, providing for 
the election of United States senators by the voters of the sev- 
eral states instead of by the state legislatures, also points in 
the same direction. Moreover, the ratification of the Six- 
teenth Amendment authorizing Congress to levy an income 
tax is iTiemorable as putting an end to another " compromise 
of the Constitution," and also for lessening the power of the 
states to fill their own treasuries in an easy manner. 

The idea underlying the representative system, as it pre- 
sented itself to " the Fathers of the Republic," was that a 
few of the wisest and best men in the community should be 
elected to study and settle in a legislative body the important 
affairs of government, while the mass of the people attended 
to the cultivation of their farms and to the prosecution of 
their business generally. These able men could be picked 
out as well by the heads of families as by all the people. 
The franchise in those days was, therefore, quite restricted. 
Futhermore, voting was often entirely open. In some states, 
indeed, any one could get a list showing how every voter had 
voted by paying the clerk for a copy of the polling books. 
Since then the franchise has been greatly extended so that now 
practically all adult males who are born in the United 
States, or who have been naturalized, have the ballot. This 
extension of the franchise has resulted in the abandonment 
of the old open voting system, where every one knew how 
every one else voted, and the establishment of a secret ballot 
system where no one is supposd to know how any one else 



1912] Woman Sujjrage 587 

votes. The precise form adopted in most states was bor- 
rowed from Australia and hence is known as the Australian 
ballot. 

447. Woman Suffrage. — With the breaking down of the The fran 
old representative institutions and the extension of the fran- '^hise. 
chise to all men, there has grown up a demand for the en- 
franchisement of women. Under the old system, the voter 
himself was a representative of the community and exercised 
the franchise as a duty imposed upon him for the public 
good. Under such a system it was easy to argue for the 
limitation of the franchise to men and even to certain 
limited classes of them. With the extension of the fran- 
chise, voting is no longer regarded as a duty, it is looked 
upon as a privilege or a right. Why then should women 
be excluded from this privilege ? or denied the possession of 
this right? — if it be a right. Many women own more prop- 
erty than many men ; many women are better educated 
than many men ; and many women are more capable ad- 
ministrators than many men. Indeed, it is difficult to see 
why any arbitrary standard should be set for the franchise, 
for no one can deny that many young men and women of 
sixteen and eighteen years of age are better fitted to exercise 
it than many men and women of fifty years and upwards. 

For a time at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Woman 
women in New Jersey had the right to vote equally with sulfi-age. 
men. This was soon done away with and it was not until 
i86g that the territorial legislature of Wyoming granted 
women equal rights in the franchise with men. When Wy- 
oming became a state in 1890, this was included in her con- 
stitution. Women now possess the suffrage in eleven states, 
all of them west of the Mississippi and all except Arizona 
and Kansas west of the Great Plains. While no state east of 
the Mississippi River has, as yet, granted complete woman 
suffrage, Illinois has given women the right to vote in all 
elections except for a few state officers — which cannot be 
done without an amendment to the state constitution. In 
more than thirty of the states women are entitled to vote 



588 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 448 



Changed 
conditions. 



The direct 
primary. 



for the members of the school committees and in some 
states they possess complete municipal suffrage. As the 
qualification for holding office is often merely the possession 
of the suffrage, it follows that in many cases women are also 
quahfied by law for office and for jury duty. 

448. Direct Primaries With the enlargement of the 

franchise, the growing distrust of conventions, representative 
institutions, legislators and party leaders, the demand has 
arisen for a closer and more frequent participation of the 
people in the affairs of government. What was impossible 
one hundred years ago is now made easy by the tremendous 
changes in the transportation of persons and news that have 
taken place in the last half century. The railroads, steam 
and electric, the automobile, the telegraph and the telephone 
make it possible to reach the voters personally and to bring 
facts and arguments to their attention in a way that was 
quite out of the question twenty-four years ago and was un- 
dreamed of fifty years ago — at the time Abraham Lincoln 
made his never-to-be-forgotten speech at Gettysburg. Now- 
adays candidates and campaign orators travel to all parts 
of the country, speaking to groups gathered at railroad 
stations or in public squares. In smaller areas, in states and 
cities, they make " whirlwind tours " in automobiles, setting 
forth their side of the case — ^ closely followed or preceded 
by their competitors. In the first half of the nineteenth 
century the nominating convention was devised to select 
party candidates for the various offices, — municipal, state, 
and national. These have now been largely replaced by 
the direct primary, by which the members of the party vote 
directly as to the party nominee. Side by side is growing 
up the demand for nomination papers or petitions requiring 
a candidate to procure a certain number of signatures to his 
candidacy, in order to gain a place on the official ballot. 
Difficulty has arisen as to the formulation of party platforms 
or statements of principles and also as to the payment of 
party expenses and, indeed, of the expenses of the individual 
aspirants for offices. These are often very heavy for postage, 



1912I Direct Legislation 589 

printing, travel, and hotel bills — all perfectly legitimate. 
With the breaking down of party enthusiasm and loyalty, 
there has come a great falling off in contributions to the party 
chests — many of which have been forbidden by law. It is 
proposed that the state assume all the public expenses of 
the primaries as well as of the actual balloting ; but this 
will only partly relieve the burden which presses heavily on 
poorer candidates. 

449. Direct Legislation The distrust of elected repre-'' Distrust of 

sentatives has come out more especially in the efforts to legislative 
curb their acts by means of the referendum and to compel 
their attention to measures of popular interest through the 
operation of the initiative. Many reasons have been ad-, 
vanced for the apparent degeneration of representative bodies. 
Some observers have attributed it to the extension of the 
franchise to the more ignorant and poorer classes of the 
people. This assertion has been met by the counter-state- 
ment that corruption and extravagance have marked represen- 
tative bodies elected by a proportionately small number of 
voters, as the English Parliament before the First Reform Act ; 
in 1832. The great concentration of wealth and power in \ 
the hands of powerful corporations and trusts, of one kind I 
or another, has also been suggested as a reason for the 
degeneracy of modern legislative bodies. It may well be, 
however, that our growing interest in politics has made us 
expect better work of our representatives than was re- 
quired of them fifty years ago. It seems certain, however, ' 
that men of the character and capacity of Washington, 
Jefferson, the Adamses, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and \ 
the Rutledges no longer seek places in the state legislatures | 
as they did at the time of the formation of the Union. "^ ' 

As to remedies, it is thought that giving the voters more Direct 
direct control of legislation will do away with some of the legislation, 
evils, but there are shrewd observers who think that nothing 
less than giving taxpayers more control of the raising and 
expending of public money can save our cities and states 
and republican institutions themselves. Others have sug- 



590 The United Stales in Our Own Times [§ 450 

gested that some limitation of tlie suffrage, without regard 
for sex, to those who are clearly qualified to exercise it, 
would be advantageous. Any limitations of this kind are 
very difficult to arrange and, after all, the declaration of that 
ancient Puritan that the lowliest man " hath a life to live as 
well as the greatest he " casts a doubt upon the righteousness 
of all schemes of reform through a limitation of the franchise. 
The most popular way of meeting these dangers is by the 
widespread adoption of some scheme of " direct legislation " 
by the people themselves and by the concurrent limitation 
of the powers of the representative legislative body." These 
devices are grouped under the titles " initiative " and " refer- 
endum." Moreover, there is a tendency to give the voters 
more direct control of administration by giving them the 
power " to recall," or to retire to private life, elected and 
sometimes appointed public officials. 

Popular 450. The Initiative By the word "initiative" is meant 

the right that is enjoyed by a certain number of voters in a 
given political community to propose definite bits of legisla- 
tion and to require that these shall either be at once enacted 
by the representative legislative body or submitted to the 
voters as a whole for their approval or rejection. Something 
like this existed in old days when it was the cugtom for the 
voters to instruct their representative in legislature or Con- 
gress to do whatever he could to secure the passage of 
certain measures or to defeat the -enactment of other laws, 
as the case might be. When party platforms first came into 
use they were looked upon as instructions to the party's 
representative, in case he were elected, to push forward 
the enactment of certain specified measures. Instructions 
have long since gone out of action and party platforms are 
sometimes not lived up to. Under these circumstances, the 
" initiative " has come into favor, especially in some of the 
Western states. Oregon is the leading example. There ten 
per cent of the voters in the state can order the submission 
of any proposition to the voters. In the cities fifteen per cent 
of the registered voters is required to initiate any legislation. 



initiative 
laws 



IQI2] The Referendum 591 

In South Dakota, the number 01 voters required to set in 
• operation this device is only five per cent. These figures 
seem small, but it must be remembered that each of these 
states contains only a small percentage of the people gath- 
ered into one great city, like New York or Chicago, and they 
live sparsely settled over a great extent. It is much more diffi- 
cult, therefore, to obtain signatures to a petition or memorial 
in them than it is in the densely settled cities of the Eastern 
states, — in some of these, signatures can be obtained through 
canvassers for ten cents apiece. 

451. The Referendum. — Referring laws to the people for Popular 
their advice and consent takes one back to colonial times, ratification 
In Pennsylvania, in the first days all proposed laws were to tions. 
be posted in the "most noted places " in the province thirty 
days before the meeting of the General Assembly that the 
representatives might know what the people thought of them. 
Again, in Maryland, at the time of the Revolution, when the 
proposed state constitution had been formulated by the 
Assembly, it was submitted to the voters for their approval 
and suggestion and was then taken up by the Assembly for 
final action. The Massachusetts constitution of 1778 was 
the first to be submitted to the voters for direct final action, 
and was by them defeated. Two years later, in 1780, an- 
other constitution was submitted to the voters. It was ap- 
proved by them and is to-day the fundamental law of that 
state. It has been several times amended, each amendment 
being likewise referred to the voters. The reference of con- 
stitutions and CO ^stitutional amendments to the voters has 
long since come to be the rule in the states of the American 
Union. In the emergencies of secession and reconstruction, 
constitutions of Southern states were drawn up and promul- 
gated without any such reference. More recently, the con- 
stitutions of several Southern states have likewise been 
adopted without any such reference to the voters. As these 
constitutions contained machinery by which it was hoped 
that the disfranchisement of the negroes would be brought 
about, it was not considered advisable to submit them to 



592 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 451 

the existing body of voters, the greater portion of whom 
were negroes. It is clear, however, that the "referendum" 
or something like it as applied to constitutions is nothing 
new in American political life. 
Popular The referendum as applied to the enactment of ordinary 

law-making, j^^^g jg ^^ much more recent devising. It began in America 
as an easy way by which members of a legislature could 
avoid responsibility by referring doubtful or unpopular 
measures to the voters for final decision. In this way, in 
some states, the question of whether beer, wine, and spirits 
should be sold or not in towns or counties has been referred 
to the voters. Matters involving expense to cities, as an in- 
crease in pay, or shorter hours of work for the municipal 
employees, have frequently been referred to the voters of 
the town or city involved for their final determination. So, 
too, have new charters of incorporation where they have in- 
volved novel or peculiar features of government. The latest 
form of the referendum, as the word is commonly used, is a 
device by which a small percentage of the voters can not 
only state their desires as to the passage of laws, but can have 
any such propositions placed before the voting body as a 
whole for final action. An appeal to the voters in any ex- 
tended way for their determination as to the desirability of 
proposed legislation necessitates laying before them argu- 
ments both for and against the suggested law. This has the 
great advantage of bringing both sides of a question to the 
attention of the voters at one time. So far, direct legisla- 
tion in its completest form of initiative and referendum has 
had no extended trial. The one recent example that has 
attracted attention has been that of Oregon in 19 10. At 
that time thirty-two measures were initiated, the state gov- 
ernmental publication explaining these measures contained 
two hundred and two pages, and the ballot upon which the 
voters were to record their judgments was six feet in length. 
All these matters will have to be carefully worked out before 
the success or the failure of the experiment can be deter- 
mined. 



1912] The Recall 593 

452. The Recall. — The word "recall," as it is now used The recall 
in American politics, means the right of the voters in any of officials, 
state or municipality to close the term of any elected officer 
before the end of the period for which he was chosen. This 
is a modern importation from the political arrangements 
of Switzerland. Six states have adopted this measure as to 
all elected officials. It has become much more usual in the 
conduct of municipal affairs, more than a hundred cities 
having adopted it. Ordinarily, the recall is initiated by pe- 
tition in much the same way that laws are, but the percent- 
age of registered voters required is larger, ranging from fif- 
teen to twenty-five per cent. An election is then held in the 
usual way. If the holder of the office then in question re- 
ceives the highest number of votes, he continues in office, 
otherwise he is recalled or retired. The older American 
method of dealing with this particular problem was to have 
frequent elections, sometimes as often as every six months, 
and usually every year. Furthermore, any official might be 
retired by impeachment or by criminal prosecution. As 
terms of office have lengthened from one year to two years 
or more, the necessity of getting rid of incapable or evil- 
minded officials has grown greater. An interesting experi- 
ment is being tried at Boston, where the mayor, under the 
latest charter is elected for four years, thereby making 
the office of considerable importance. It happens that the 
state elections in Massachusetts come in November and the 
Boston city elections in the following January. In the state 
election every second year the voters of Boston vote, as a 
matter of course, whether an election for mayor shall be 
held at the forthcoming January polling. In case a ma- 
jority of the registered voters cast affirmative ballots, the 
existing incumbent is recalled and a new election is held in 
January, at which he may or may not be a candidate. 
Whether this experiment will be worth repeating elsewhere, 
time only can show. The recall has also been applied as to 
some appointed officers. In a modified form, it has existed 
in Massachusetts ever since 1780, for the constitution of that 

2-Q 



594 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 453 



Apathy of 
voters. 



The Galves- 
ton plan. 



year provides that the judges may be removed by the gov- 
ernor and council on address by the two Houses of the legis- 
lature. 

One of the troubles that has been experienced in giving a 
fair trial to any of these experiments is the great difficulty of 
getting the voters, whether men or women, to take an active 
and continued interest in such detailed problems. Even in 
Oregon, where the conditions are most advantageous, bills 
have been accepted or defeated by very small proportions of 
the registered voters in the state. For example, the amend- 
ment to the state constitution changing the centuries-old rule 
requiring unanimity in the verdict of a jury was adopted by 
a vote of 44,000 to 39,000, the total number of voters in the 
state being something like 140,000. Only a little over one 
half of the voters were interested enough in this revolution- 
ary proposition to go to the polls and vote on this question. 
Various means have been tried to compel voters to deposit 
their ballots. In one case, in Switzerland, a fine was pro- 
vided for every absentee. A goodly number of voters came 
to the polls, but when the boxes were opened, it was found 
that an extraordinarily large proportion of the ballots were 
unmarked. 

453. Reform of City Governments. — One of the weakest 
spots in American institutions has been the government of 
cities. In them the representative system has broken down 
utterly and corruption and jobbery have been particularly 
rife. The first hopeful attempt at reformation was made at 
Galveston, by the adoption of the commission form of gov- 
ernment in 1900. The situation at Galveston was serious 
because the city was practically swept away by a tidal wave 
from the Gulf of Mexico, and its credit had been seriously 
impaired by years of misrule. To rebuild the city and 
restore its credit severe measures were necessary. Galves- 
ton business men took the matter in hand and reorganized 
its government on the basis of a large business concern. 
Under the Galveston plan five commissioners elected by the 
voters have entire control of municipal affairs. The first of 



I9I2 



Reform of City Governments 



595 



these is called mayor-president. He presides at the meet- 
ings of the commissioners but has no veto power. He also 
exercises a general supervision over the affairs of the city. 
The other commissioners have their departments to look 
after. One of them is at the head of the police and fire 
department, another of streets and public property, a fourth 
of water and sewerage, and the fifth of revenue and expendi- 
tures. These four exercise a general supervision of their 
departments, having superintendents under them to take 
care of details. The commissioners as a board have power 
to make and remove all city officials, to make and enforce 
rules for their guidance, to determine all salaries and expen- 
ditures, and to grant franchises for the use of the city streets. 
There is no general referendum under this plan, but the city 
can borrow money only when authorized by a vote of the 
majority of the qualified voters who also pay taxes. Slightly The Des 
different from this is the Des Moines plan of city govern- ''^o'"'^^ plan, 
ment. There is a council of five members including the 
mayor. These arrange among themselves as to the general 
oversight of the city departments. Under this plan there is 
an absolute recall for all officials, and the referendum is ap- 
plied to the granting of all franchises and, in general, to any 
measure when one quarter of the voters ask to have it so 
submitted. The Galveston and Des Moines plans of com- 
mission government have already been adopted by more 
than one hundred cities. 

Radically unlike these reforms is the plan adopted for The Boston 
Boston in 1909. According to this scheme the mayor is P''^"- 
elected for four years, but is subject to recall in the middle 
of his term, by a majority of the registered voters. There 
is a council of nine members chosen at large for three years. 
This is a legislative body and has nothing to do with admin- 
istration and all its acts are subject to veto by the mayor. 
This official has little direct executive power, except as to 
the nomination of the heads of departments, who have to be 
certified to as competent by a state-appointed civil service 
commission. Moreover, all minor city employees must be 



596 The United States in Our Own Times [§ 454 

taken from lists provided by this same commission. 
The heads of departments may be removed by the mayor 
at any time, but they have the appointment of all their sub- 
ordinates. A permanent finance commission, appointed by 
the state, examines into all municipal affairs at its discretion 
and makes public the results of its findings and also any rec- 
ommendations that it thinks advisable. Moreover, the police 
department, although supported by the city, is under the 
sole direction of a commissioner appointed by the state. All 
these experiments and others which are being made in dif- 
ferent parts of the country have not as yet been in operation 
for a sufficient length of time to determine their value. 
They seem to be an improvement on the old order of things. 
The "fed- 454. The Sixteenth Amendment. — At the time of the 

era! ratio. making of the Constitution (§182) the Southern states, 
where negro slavery was an important factor in social and 
industrial life, were averse to giving Congress the power to 
levy direct taxes at will. The Northern states, where negro 
slaves formed an inconsiderable portion of the population, 
were likewise opposed to apportioning representation in 
Congress according to the total population of the states. 
This would give the Southern whites an undue power in 
electing members of that body, as the slaves had no votes, 
but would be counted in the apportionment of representa- 
tion. It was finally arranged that both representation and 
direct taxes should be apportioned among the states accord- 
ing to the " federal ratio " by which a slave was reckoned 
as three fifths of a person. This requirement made it prac- 
tically impossible to levy direct taxes. Since the downfall 
of slavery and consequently of the federal ratio, various 
attempts have been made to devise some form of direct 
tax that would not have to be apportioned among the states 
according to population. In 1894 Congress passed an act 
levying a property tax without trying to apportion it among 
the states, but the Supreme Court declared this to be a 
direct tax and therefore unconstitutional. It then substituted 
for this a tax upon corporations engaged in interstate busi- 



1913] 



The Seventeenth Amendment 



597. 



ness on the ground, or plea, that this was a franchise tax 
and not a direct tax. It also proposed a constitutional amend- 
ment, giving Congress power to levy a tax on all incomes 
without apportionment among the several states and without 
regard to any enumeration of the people (1909). This 
amendment was ratified by thirty-four states almost at once. 
The consent of thirty-six states, or three fourths of the whole, 
was necessary, and this was not obtained until February, 
1 9 13, when the amendment was declared in force. 

455- The Seventeenth Amendment. — At the time of the 
federal convention at Philadelphia in 1787, there was great 
jealousy on the part of the states as to giving up any of the 
powers which they then exercised. One of the compromises 
which was adopted in order to secure unanimity was that 
of giving the states equal representation in the Senate re- 
gardless of their size or population. The senators were 
looked upon as peculiarly representing the interests of their 
states and were to be chosen by the legislatures thereof. 
Since the Civil War, and especially in the last twenty-five 
years, the feeling of state pride and of state's rights has suf- 
fered great diminution. This is partly due, no doubt, to 
the ever increasing facilities of travel and the intermingling 
of the people of the several parts of the country. It is also 
due to the increasing power of the government at Washing- 
ton and to the ever growing spirit of nationalism. For these 
reasons it has seemed no longer necessary to regard the 
states as pohtical entities and their senators as representa- 
tives of political corporations and not of the people of the 
several states. With the growing distrust of the representa- 
tive legislative bodies, there came a demand for the direct 
election of senators by the voters. The Seventeenth Amend= 
ment providing for this change in the Constitution was pro- 
posed by Congress in May, 1912. It met with immediate 
popular approbation, was speedily ratified by the necessary 
number of states, and was declared in force in 19 13. 



The income 
tax amend- 
ment. 



Direct elec- 
tion of sen- 
ators. 



598 The United States in Our Own Times 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 425-432. The New Outlook in 1898 

Classify under six heads the problems which met the American people 
in 1898. Make clear statements of each problem in note-book. In 
handling these problems, has the American people shown ability ? 

§§ 433-435- Roosevelt's First Term 

a. Is the vice-presidency "a graveyard for politicians" ? 

b. What can we do to prevent the assassination of our Presidents ? 

c. Is it best for the federal government to intervene in labor 
troubles, or should the matter be left to the states ? 

d. Why should the United States have intervened to end the war 
between Russia and Japan ? 

§§ 436-438. Alaska and Panama 

a. Which is likely to be more important : the discovery of gold in 
Alaska or the finding of coal there ? 

I/. What has been the greatest obstacle in the way of making a 
canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific ? 

c. Justify the recognition of the Panama Republic. 

§§ 439-445. Recent History 

a. Why was Judge Parker defeated in 1904 ? 

b. What is the dift'erence between governmental regulation of rail- 
roads and corporations and paternalism ? 

c. Should the President have signed the Aldrich Tariff Bill ? 

J. Would reciprocity with Canada be advantageous to both the 
United States and Canada ? How about Mexico ? 

General Questions 

a. Trace the growth of the urban population from 1800 to the 
present day. How do you account for the increase ? In your opinion 
is the growth of cities favorable or unfavorable to higher civilization ? 

b. Tabulate the growth of the chief manufactures of the states which 
seceded, between 1865 and the present day. What causes tend to make 
the South a manufacturing region ? What will be the effect of the 
establishment of the protected industries in the South ? 



CHAPTER XVII 

IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1918 
Books for Consultation 

General Readings. — Paxson, Corwin, and Harding's IVar Cyclo- 
pedia : A Handbook for Ready Reference on the Great War (last 
available edition) ; S. B. Harding's Study of the Great War, issued 
by "The Committee on Public Information," provides a useful topical 
outline and interesting quotations ( War Information Series, No. 16); 
W. F. Johnson's America and the Great IVar. 

Special Accounts. — A. Maurice Low's Woodrow Wilson ; An In- 
terpretation, President Wilson's own statements may be found in his 
State Papers and Addresses (1918) ; In Our First Year of War (con- 
tains messages and addresses) ; and War Addresses, With an Intro- 
duction by A. A'. Leonard. H. C. Lodge's War Addresses, igi§- 
1917 ; S. D. Fess' Why Our Country Is in IVar : J. A. B. Scherer's 
The Nation at IVar : Christian Gauss' IVhy We Went to War {Sev/ 
York, 1918); and The War of Democracy : The Allies'" Statement. 

Sources. — The Congressional Record. Dates and concrete facts 
may be gathered from the current numbers of The Literary Digest, 
and other similar publications; from volumes issued by some of the 
newspapers, as The World Almanac and Encyclopedia, published by the 
A^e'w York World, The New International Year Book, the American 
Year Book, and the Annual Register may be regarded as sources, as 
also may be J. B. Scott's Survey of International Relations between the 
United States and Germany, igi^-igij. Useful sets are the Red, 
White, and Blue Series, published by "The Committee on Public In- 
formation," and the Patriotism Through Education Series issued by 
•' The National Security League." Some States, as Indiana, have 
published a " Handbook " ur a " War Service Textbook " for use in 
their High Schools, — these usually contain original material and im- 
portant local addresses. 

Maps. — The various war maps in The World's Work for 1914- 
1918 ; and C. S. Hammond & Company's war maps, especially their 
" Large Scale War Map of the Western Front." 

:99 



6oo 



In the Great War 



[§456 



Wilson's In- 
augural. 
State Papers 
and Ad- 
dresses, 1-5. 



Mexican 
governments. 



Bibliography. — Brief lists of books are appended to each section 
of S. B. Harding's Study of the Great War. 

Illustrative Material. — R. G. Usher's Pan-Germanism : J. W. 
Gerard's My Foicr Years in Germany ; Frederick Palmer's America 
in France, and his other books on the war; J. J. Chapman's Victor 
Chapman^ s Letters from France (the American spirit) ; Arthur Train's 
The Earthquake (a patriotic appeal to Americans) ; and H. G. Wells's 
Mr, Britling Sees It Through (the English spirit). 

IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1918 

456. President Wilson. — On March 4, 1913, Woodrow 
Wilson delivered his inaugural address to a great audience 
assembled before the eastern front of the capitol. The 
time had come, President Wilson declared, to take a new 
view of the interior of our national life. The American 
system of government contained every necessary political 
element and the material wealth of the country was richly 
abundant ; but there had been inexcusable waste. " We 
have squandered a great part of what we might have used, 
and have not stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of 
nature, without which our genius for enterprise would have 
been worthless and impotent " and the government had 
been used for private and selfish purposes. The work of 
the new administration would be one of restoration. He 
gathered about him a group of strong men, most of whom 
had been hitherto unknown in national politics ; and, not- 
withstanding the critical issues that had to be faced, all but 
three of his original cabinet were in office at the time of the 
signing of the armistice on November n, 1918. Of those 
who left him, the most eminent was William Jennings Bryan. 
He had been the Democratic candidate for the presidency 
on several earlier occasions. Wilson asked him to be 
Secretary of State and Bryan remained in that office until 
June, 191 5, when he resigned and retired to private life. 

457. Mexico. — The first events of importance in con- 
nection with foreign aiTairs had to do with the neighbor- 
ing republic of Mexico. That country for years had lived 
quietly under the presidency of Porfirio Diaz. His retire- 



iqi4] 



Mexico 



60 1 



ment from office was the signal for revolution. One man 
after another made himself President, only to be murdered The policy 
or exiled after a short period of rule. The United States waiting." 
pursued a policy of "watchful waiting " until April, 1914, C. w. Bar- 
when the Mexicans arrested several American seamen '■°"s^'*'^ 

rr^ • Mextcari 

who had landed at Tampico for the purpose of buving prohipw 




■<g) Brown Brothers. 



Vera Cruz, Mexico 



supplies. Then, an expedition was sent to occupy Vera 
Cruz, the principal seaport of the Mexican republic, be- 
cause President Wilson thought it necessary that Mexican 
apologies for the Tampico incident " should be such as to 
attract the attention of the whole [Mexican] population to Seizure of 
their significance." He insisted, therefore, that "the flag Vera Cruz. 
of the United States should be saluted in such a way as to 



6o2 



In the Great War 



[§458 



American in- 
vasion of 
Mexico, 1916. 



indicate a new spirit"; but he explained that he had no 
intention of entering into a conflict with the people of 
Mexico. Three South American States now offered to act 
as mediators. The offer was accepted. Nothing tangible 
came of the mediation; but, in November, 1914, the 
American forces were withdrawn. 

For a time after our withdrawal from Vera Cruz, there 
was little friction between the United States and Mexico. 
In January, 1916, Mexican bandits seized a number of 
American citizens, — who were connected with mining 
enterprises in Mexico, — ill-treated them and killed them. 
In the following spring, other Mexicans crossed the frontier 
and raided the town of Columbus in the State of New 
Mexico and made their escape after killing eight civilians 
and nine soldiers. This led to sending a punitive expedi- 
tion under the command of General John J. Pershing into 
Mexico (March, 19 16) and reenforcements were dispatched 
to General Funston, who commanded on the border. 
Pershing penetrated three hundred miles into Mexico. 
He accomplished little in the way of capturing bandits 
and the presence of American soldiers in the country 
aroused ill feeling on the part of the Mexicans. After 
months of debate, an arrangement wasjnade between the 
two countries and the American troops were ordered to 
withdraw to their own side of the border (January, 19 17). 

458. Population and Wealth. — In 1910 the population 
of the United Qf t^g continental part of the United States was nearly 

States . ■ ... 

ninety-two millions in comparison with fifty millions m 1880. 

Adding to the figures for 19 10 the population of the Phil- 
ippines, Hawaii, Porto Rico, Alaska and other outlying pos- 
sessions, it appears that there were then over one hundred 
million people living under the Stars and Stripes. As to 
the ninety-two million people living in the main block of 
the continental area, thirty-seven millions of them were in 
the Old Thirteen States and nearly seven millions in the 
Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States. Or, to analyze 
the population according to the lines of the Civil War, 



Population 



iQi; 



Immigration 



603 



about forty-five millions or nearly one half lived in the 
States north of Mason and Dixon's line and east of the 
Mississippi River. In 19 17, it was estimated that there 
were then over one hundred and three million people in 
the United States homelands alone. Croing back to the 
figures of 19 10, it appears that the population in fifty years 
had increased threefold over that of i860. In the same 
time there had been a tremendous acceleration in the 
accumulation of wealth. In i860, the wealth of the nation 
was estimated at sixteen billion dollars and in 19 12 at one 
hundred and eighty-seven billions. Moreover the annual 
production of wealth has grown from five billions in i860 
to over sixty billions in 19 17. As to the geographical dis- 
tribution of wealth, it appears that of a total income tax 
of one hundred and twenty-five millions in igi6, more than 
eighty-one millions were paid by people living east of the 
Appalachians. Indeed, it seems that one tenth of the whole 
population of the continental United States lives within the 
limits of the single State of New York and they own about 
one eighth of the accumulated wealth of the whole country. 
459. Immigration. — In the years before 19 14, immi- 
gration was very large, averaging from 1905-1914 over 
one million souls in each year. Before the Civil War 
immigrants had come almost entirely from the countries of 
northern Europe, west of Russia ; but in these later years, 
Russian and other Slavic people and Italian formed the 
greater number of newcomers. In 19 13- there were 
380,000 Slavic immigrants and 315,000 Italian. These 
formed a new element in our population. They thronged 
together in the cities and manufacturing towns and car- 
ried on the customs and habits of their old homes, instead 
of assimilating American ideas. This vast immigration 
seemed to be so great an evil that Congress directed itself 
to the passage of a law to restrict it ; but the early laws 
were vetoed by President Taft and President Wilson. In 
19 1 7, an immigration restriction act was passed over 
President Wilson's second veto and thus became law. 



Wealth of 
the Ameri- 
can people. 



New prob- 
lems of im- 
migration. 
F. J. Warne's 
Tke Tide 
of Immigra- 
tion. 



Immigration 
Restriction 
Act, 1917. 



6o4 



In the Great War 



[§ 459 



This act excludes from the United States paupers, insane 
persons, criminals, anarchists, contract laborers, all those 
likely to become a public charge, and those persons over 
eighteen years of age — with some exceptions — who can- 
not read in some language. All immigrants in these classes 
who elude the inspectors and are later detected can be de- 
ported at any time. Moreover, any aliens who shall at any 
time be found teaching or advocating the destruction of 
property, the overthrow of the government, or the assassi- 
nation of its officers may be expelled from the country, no 
matter how long they have lived in it (see §§ 208, 209). 
Before closing this survey of the United States at the out- 
break of the Great War, it will be interesting to cite a few 
figures for the purpose of comparison with other nations : 



Country 



United States . . 
(Including Islands) 



Great Britain and 
Ireland .... 

British Empire 

(Including India and 
the Colonies) . . . 



France 
Itah' 



Russia .... 
(Including Siberia 
and Central Asia) 

Germany . . . 
Austria-Hungary 



Millions 


DF Dollars 


Wealth 


National 
Debt 


1 30,000 


1,027 


(In 1912 




It was 




187,739) 




80,000 


3.527 




5'542 


65,000 


6,280 


20,000 


2,669 


40,000 


4,650 


60,500 


1,224 


25,000 


1.055 



Area 
(Square Miles) 



3,616,484 

3.743.344 



121,391 

13.153.712 
207,054 
110,550 

8,647,657 

208,830 
261,035 



Population 



91,972,267 
103,992,757 



45,216,741 

434,286,650 

38,961,945 

32,475,253 

160,095,200 

64,903,423 
49,418,596 



iQi; 



Outlying Possessions 



605 



Purchase 
of Danish 
West Indies, 
1917. 



460. Outlying Possessions. — President Wilson found the The new 
problem of what to do with the Philippines and -other out- P^'l'PP'nes. 
lying possessions confronting him. He appointed F. Bur- 
ton Harrison governor-general of the Philippines, and in 
19 16 Congress promised eventual independence to the 
Filipinos and gave them considerable measures of self- 
government at once. In 19 17, the Porto Ricans were 
given full citizenship ; but the laws passed by the Porto 
Rican legislature must be approved by the governor and 
by Congress. In February, 19 17, after many years of 
contemplation, the United States purchased the Danish 
West Indies, comprising the islands to the eastward from 
Porto Rico, including St. Thomas, which has an excellent 
harbor. Almost every year since the close of the Spanish 
War, more American capital has been invested in enter- 
prises in the island of San Domingo and Haiti ; and the 
negro governments of that island have run steadily into 
debt, not only to Americans, but also to Germans and 
other Europeans. As these trans-Atlantic governments 
showed signs of interfering in the affairs of the island, the 
United States felt obliged to guarantee the payment of 
the debts owed by the islanders to foreigners and took 
possession of the customs revenue in order to regulate 
matters. From this point the step to the establishment of 
what is really a " protectorate " was not difficult ; and now, 
with the possession of the Philippines and Porto Rico and 
St. Thomas and the control of St. Domingo and Cuba and 
the guarding of the Panama Canal, the American people 
have assumed very considerable obligations outside of 
their traditional homelands. 

It will be convenient here to say a word about the Jap- The 
anese, for their activities and " peaceful penetration " of Japanese 

. . ... , . 1 • ,• .in Cahfornia. 

American territories has aroused fear and indignation 
among the people living on the Pacific Coast. The Jap- 
anese were very industrious and willing to work long hours 
for low wages, and they took every possible advantage of 
opportunities for intellectual and financial gain. These 



6o6 



7w the Great War 



[§461 



Finances 
of the 

government. 
Dewey's 
Financial 
History of 
the United 
states ( latest 
edition). 



T^he tariff 
commission. 



The 

reserve 

bank 

system. 



activities aroused the Californians. After anxious moments 
of negotiation, it was arranged with Japan that the Japa- 
nese might come to CaUfornia and possess houses and im- 
provements, but not the right to own land. 

461. Financial Problems. — With majorities in both 
Houses of Congress and the complete control of the Ex- 
ecutive branch of the government, the Democrats set to 
work to put into practice their theories as to the tariff and 
taxation. In 19 13, they passed the Underwood Tariff Act, 
which was so named for the chairman of the committee of 
the House of Representatives that drew it up. This law 
greatly increased the articles that could be imported free 
of duty, and considerably reduced the amount of protection 
given to the makers of cotton and woolen cloth. 

In 1916, a permanent tariff commission of six members, 
receiving $7500.00 each yearly, was provided by act of 
Congress. It is to be hoped that this marks the begin- 
ning of a permanent tariff policy, for, whether or not 
protection be beneficial or harmful to manufacturers and 
wage-earners, it is certain that the granting and withdraw- 
ing protection at short periods of time cannot be beneficial 
to any one. The immediate results of the reduction in 
the tariff of 1916 appear to have been injurious to some 
of the industries affected ; but the World War began so 
soon and introduced so many new conditions into industry 
and commerce that no one can draw any intelligent con- 
clusion as to the actual effect of this particular piece of 
legislation. 

From the very beginning of the government under the 
Constitution, there have been difficulties as to keeping 
the government funds, taking them in and paying them 
out, without disturbing the business of the country. There 
was the Bank of the United States in Hamilton's time 
(§ 198) and another Bank of the United States in the days 
of Monroe and Jackson (§ 290), the Independent Treasury 
system of Van Buren (§ 294), and the national banks of 
the Civil War time. These were scattered all over the 



1914] The Great War 607 

country and issued paper money based on government 
bonds. Each one of these systems had its virtues and 
each one its faiUngs. In Taft's administration, a commis- 
sion studied the question and produced a plan for a Fed- 
eral Reserve Bank which should be more or less connected 
with the federal government and should control the use 
and distribution of the money of the country, as well as 
take care of the funds of the government. A bank on 
these lines was established in Wilson's first administration. 
All the national banks throughout the country subscribed 
to the capital of a limited number of reserve banks which 
are under the control of a board appointed by the Presi- 
dent. The idea is to minimize the power of the banks of 
any one region, to put all banks on a footing of equality 
in certain respects, and, by taking away the power to 
refuse credit in difficult times, to lessen the dangers of 
those difficult periods, — in other words, to avoid panics 
in the future. How this system will work in practice is 
uncertain ; but some observers, turning back to the times 
of Andrew Jackson and reading his messages, have doubts 
as to the expediency of centralizing the capital of the 
country under the political control of the government at 
Washington. 

462. The Great War. — In August, 19 14, war broke out Beginning of 
between Germany and Austria-Hungary, on the one side, 
and Russia and France, on the other. Germany, striking 
for the open, undefended northern frontier of France, 
marched an army through Belgium, whose independence 
had been guaranteed by Prussia, the leading State of the 
German Empire, by France, and by Great Britain. The 
British felt obliged to do what they could to defend Bel- 
gium and entered the conflict on the side of Russia ai.d of 
France. Other countries to engage in the war were Serbia, 
Italy, Roumania, and Japan on the side of Great Britain 
and France, and Bulgaria and Turkey on the side of the 
Germans. The plan of the invaders was to overrun all 
northern France and occupy Paris, while they held off 



the World 
War, 19 14. 



6o8 



In the Great War 



[§ 463 



German in- 
vasion of 
France, 
IQI4. 



The 

neutrals and 
the war. 



Russia on the eastern front. The Germans accomplished 
the second of these, but did not succeed so well as to the 
first. The invaders reached the Marne and got to villages 
served by the delivery trucks of the Paris department 
stores. There the skill and valor of the French army, 
combined with the tenacity of a comparatively small num- 
ber of British regular soldiers, and the fact that the Ger- 
mans had outmarched their supplies, and had not been 
joined by other German armies, coming by the direct route 
from Metz, compelled the invaders to retire toward Bel- 
gium, to the country north of Verdun and the River 
Somme. On their southward way the Germans had been 
so intent upon reaching Paris that they had not seized the 
Belgian and French ports on the North Sea and Strait of 
Dover, They now tried to remedy this error, but never 
gained control of Dunkirk, Calais, and Havre. More- 
over, they entrenched and thus permitted the war to be- 
come stationary. This greatly favored the French and 
especially the British. The latter constructed an entirely 
new army out of the civilian population of the Empire, 
which they might not have been able to do had it not been 
for this delay. From this beginning the conflict went on 
from year to year, with varying fortunes, but generally in 
favor of the Germans until April, 19 17, when the United 
States threw its weight into the war on the side of Britain 
and France. 

463. The Neutrals and the War. — The opening of the 
contest had given rise to new problems of the utmost im- 
portance and of great danger. All at once, the United 
States found itself the one great neutral manufacturing 
and commercial power in the world. One hundred years 
earlier, in the time of Napoleon, it had been the one great 
commerce-carrying country of the world and had had 
great difficulties in preserving its neutrality. Now the 
conditions of warfare were so entirely unlike those of the 
earlier period, that the teachings of the older time had 
. largely to be forgotten. In Jefferson's day the war had 



iQiy] 



The Neutrals and the War 



609 



been between armies and between nav'ies, now it was a 
war of nations, a conflict of whole peoples. It was impos- 
sible to continue to draw the distinctions between com- 
batants and non-combatants that had always been drawn 
before. Britain declared her enemies' ports to be in a 
state of blockade. She did not establish a close blockade 
of any one port ; but, by means of fast patrol vessels, 
stopped every ship bound across the Atlantic or through 
the Mediterranean. Then, too, the English made no dis- 
tinction between food destined for the support of German 
soldiery and that designed for the sustenance of the work- 
ing people in the German towns. This was because all 
Germans — like all English men and women — were en- 
gaged in prosecuting the war against Great Britain and 
her allies and because the German government, by taking 
control and possession of the whole food supply of Ger- 
many, had made it impossible to distinguish between food 
destined for German military and naval forces and for the 
civilian population. On the other side, the Germans be- 
came excited and dismayed over the enormous amounts of 
munitions of war that were being manufactured in the 
United States after the lapse of only a few months, and 
shipped across the sea to England, France, and Italy. 
For many years, the Germans had been in the habit of 
supplying fighters all over the world with cannon, powder, 
and shells. But they maintained that the present case was 
very different from what it had been then. In the earlier 
time, any one could come to Germany and buy munitions 
with a fair prospect of getting them delivered ; but now, 
with the oceans of the world under British control, it was 
absolutely impossible to ship warlike materials to Ger- 
many, while it was perfectly easy to send them to Great 
Britain and her allies. As the German government could 
not convince the American government of the illegality of 
supplying her enemies with munitions of war, she under- 
took to settle the matter for herself by waging warfare on 
and in the sea in a new and most inhuman manner. 



Blockade o' 
Germany, 
and her 
allies. 



6io 



In the Great War 



[§ 464 



Submannf 
warfare. 



The 

Lusi/airia, 
May 7, 1915. 



Guns and 

high 

explosives. 



464. Submarine Warfare. — The submarine is a slightly 
built boat that can sail either on the surface of the water 
or under the sea. Torpedoes can be discharged from it 
carrying high explosives, or guns can be fired from its 
deck when it is on the surface of the sea. A submarine, 
therefore, cansteal upon a vessel and without any warning 
tear a great hole in its side with a torpedo, so that it will 
sink in a short space of time. In the older wars, it had 
been customary to insure the safety of human beings on 
merchant vessels that were destroyed and it had been the 
ordinary practice to rescue one's enemies whenever it 
could be done, even at the cost of some danger to the 
victorious party. Now, when the Germans were unable 
to keep a vessel of the ordinary type on the open sea, 
they undertook to send ships, war vessels, and merchant 
vessels alike to the bottom without any warning and with- 
out any care of any sort for the crews and the passengers. 
On May 7, 19 15, a great British steamer, the Lusitania, 
bound from New York for Liverpool with nearly two 
thousand human beings on board, was sent to the bottom 
off the coast of Ireland by a German submarine. No 
warning was given and no effort was made by the Ger- 
mans to save a single life. In all, one thousand one hun- 
dred and ninety-eight men, women, and children perished, 
of whom one hundred and twenty-four were Americans. 
In their defense, the Germans declared that the Lusitania 
was armed and carried munitions of war in her cargo. It 
is true that she had some small-arm cartridges and some 
empty shells in her hold ; but she was not armed in any 
way. Medals were struck in Germany commemorating 
this sinking of one of the greatest ships of Britain, and 
German school children were given a holiday that they 
might celebrate the event. 

465. Modern Warfare. — In the fifty years since the 
last great war between Germany and France, there have 
been tremendous advancements in science and industry. 
For one thing the whole art of gunnery has been greatly 



iQiy] 



Modern Warfare 



6ii 



influenced by the invention of new kinds of gunpowder or 

high explosives as they are called. These possess many 

times the power of the old-fashioned black gunpowder. 

With them new kinds of guns were developed which fired 

shells filled with these high explosives for long distances. 

One kind of gun employed by the Germans threw shells 

into Paris from a distance of from sixty to seventy miles. Flame- 

The Germans also used inflammable substances and guns •^"■o^^ers, 

that projected name mto the opposing ranks. They also gas-masks 

let off noxious gases that rolled with the wind into the 




An American Tank 



ranks and trenches of their opponents, killing them or 
burning them or blinding them more or less permanently. 
The British and the French, and the Americans when they 
entered the war, also made extensive use of these new 
methods. To guard against shell fragments and missiles 
from the bursting shells, the soldiers were provided with 
thin steel hats, and to protect them against gas, masks 
were invented which enabled the wearer to breathe the 
gaseous vapors through some absorbent or neutralizing 
substance. As one means of offense and defense against 



6l2 



In the Great War 



[§466 



trenches and wire entanglements and machine guns the 
British invented an armoured tractor which they called 
a "tank." These were greatly improved before the close 
of hostilities. 

Zeppelins. In 1914, the airplane and airship were still in the ex- 

perimental stage. The Germans had built some enormous, 
rigidly framed balloons. These were shaped like gigantic 
sausages and were propelled through the air by gasoline 
engines. They carried one or two dozen men and quanti- 
ties of bombs. These airships were named Zeppelins for 
their inventor. The Germans expected to cross the North 
Sea in them and lay London in ruins, and also to destroy 

Airplanes. Paris and other cities of France. These machines proved 
to be of little use in offensive warfare, but for patrolling 
seacoasts and long stretches of inaccessible country they 
are said to have been of service. The airplanes have been 
marvelously developed during the four years of the war. 
They are used for scouting behind the enemy's lines, for 
attacking enemy planes and for throwing bombs on fortifi- 
cations and railroad stations and the like ; and smaller 
ones for scouting at sea for submarines and floating mines. 
All manner of devices have been adopted to screen the move- 
ment of troops and the position of guns from the prying 
eyes and cameras of the aviators, — to camouflage them, 
as the phrase is. Some of the most gallant and thrilling 
combats of the war have been in the air. 

Wilson 466. The Election of 1916. — In 1916, a presidential 

and Hughes. eigQ^jon \vas held. The Republicans and the Progressives 
came together, although, perhaps, without much enthusi- 
asm. They nominated Charles E. Hughes of New York, 
at the time a Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Mr. Hughes had won his way into public 
life by conducting investigations into the doings of sundry 
corporations in New York and had been elected governor 
of .thnt State. He did not seem to desire to leave the 
quiet security of the Supreme Court to venture once more 
into the turmoil of political life ; but he accepted the nomi- 



I9i6] 



The Election of igi6 



613 



nation and traveled over the country, making speeches by 
the hundreds. Colonel Roosevelt also went on tour and 
attacked the Wilson government with his old-time force. 
President Wilson was renominated by the Democrats. He 
did little in the way of traveling, but received delegations 




Election of 1916 



at his summer residence. There were no clean-cut issues 
between these candidates, but the fact that Wilson had 
"kept us out of war" appealed to a good many persons, 
particularly in the West and more particularly in the State 
of Ohio. When the electoral votes were counted, it was 
found that Wilson had carried the " Solid South," the Far 
West, and the State of Ohio. For some time it was doubt- 
ful whether he had obtained the votes of California, and 
the election was so close that the result depended upon 
the electoral votes of that one State. Finally it was de- 
cided that the electoral vote of California was for Wilson, 
and he was declared elected. This election was another 
example of the working of the presidential electoral ma- 



Wilson re- 
elected. 



6i4 



In the Great War 



[§467 



Wilson's 

second 

inaugural. 



chinery, by which each State, no matter how small its 
population, has at least three electoral votes. This whole 
arrangement of presidential electors had been a part of 
the compromise by which the Constitution had been made 
possible by giving to the small vStates a certain measure 
of control, but now, when States' rights have been so 
largely abandoned, it would seem that a new plan of elect- 
ing the President and a new plan of representation in 
Congress by which human beings, the United States over, 
should have an equal share in the general government, 
might well be considered. 

467. We Enter the War. — President Wilson gave his 
second inaugural address on March 5, 191 7, March 4 be- 
ing Sunday. Events then followed thick and fast, rapidly 
upon the heels one of the other. Commerce betw^een the 
United States, Great Britain, France, and their allies had 
grown to enormous proportions. They needed our food 
and horses, our cotton and our shoes, and munitions of 
war. The extent to which the trade of supplying the 
Allies grew may be seen in the fact that the exports from 
the United States to all countries — including Germany 
and her allies — before the war were valued at two and 
one-quarter billion dollars and had increased to four and 
one-third billions in the year 19 16. The Allies could not 
have continued the war without the commodities that they 
procured from the United States. Now, when the war 
had lasted so long and Germany's position was becoming 
critical, the Berlin government determined to use every 
means at its command to destroy ocean-borne commerce. 
In the future no mercy would be shown to merchant ships, 
armed or unarmed, whether belonging to enemy or neu- 
tral, they should be destroyed at sight, without warning, 
and their crews and passengers should be left to escape 
as well as they might. The answer of the United States 
was a declaration of war against Germany on April 6, 
1917, and against Austria in the following December. 

468. Beginning the War. — The United States entered 



IQI71 



Beginning the War 



6iS 



upon this war better prepared for armed conflict than had 
been the case at any other time in its history, except in 
the last year of the Civil War. In the first place, owing 
to the work of General Leonard \\'ood and others, a con- 
siderable body of young men had been trained for war at 
Plattsburg and elsewhere. In the second place, the indus- 
tries of the country had been largely turned to the manu- 
facture of military equipment and munitions of war for 
Great Britain and her allies. Moreover, for the first time 
in American history, the government at once put into force 
a plan of conscription of all young men between the ages 
of twenty-one and thirty, both inclusive, and these age 
limits were extended from eighteen to forty-five, both 
inclusive, by the law that was passed August 31, 19 18. 
Considering the many different elements in the American 
people and their varied occupations and modes of thought, 
there was astonishingly little opposition to this selective 
draft (see p. 488). In all other wars the ranks have been 
filled by volunteers or by bounties paid to any one who 
would enlist, or by some modified draft arrangement. In 
19 1 7, too, no attempt was made to place raw and untrained 
soldiers in the field. The Regular Army and the State 
troops, which had been taken over by the federal author- 
ities and hardened to military life by service on the Texas 
border, were sent across the ocean in 191 7, where they 
were combined with British and French armies and 
received excellent training in actual warfare. 

The new recruits were gathered into camps and can- 
tonments, and were drilled and drilled and drilled until 
they became hardened to the conditions of outdoor life 
and arduous physical exertion. Meantime, in France, 
American engineers built barracks and wharves, docks 
and storage warehouses, for the reception of the incoming 
troops and of the enormous mass of food and equipment 
for their support. 

469. Results. — The task undertaken by the American 
people through its government was stupendous. It was 



Prepared- 
ness. 



Plattsburg 



The 

selective 

draft. 



America 
in France. 



The prob- 
lem. 



6i6 



In the Great War 



[§ 469 



Boards and 
commissions. 



Disappoint- 
ments. 



no less than placing millions of men in the field three 
thousand miles away, feeding them, and supplying them 
across an ocean infested by submarine assassins. This 
had to be done at a time when ships were urgently needed 
to carry food and munitions to our associates, and when 
the commercial fleets of the world had been gravely re- 
duced by German action. This problem, in short, was 

to do one third more 
than the ordinary 
transoceanic business 
with two thirds of the 
ordinary transporta- 
tion. Leading men 
were gathered into 
the government's ser- 
vice from the great 
business enterprises 
of the country — 
some of them serving 
for a wage of one 
dollar a year. One 
set of them called 
the Priority Board de- 
termined which job 
and which part of the 
job should be done 
first, and another 
board, at the head 
of which was Herbert C. Hoover, saw to the conser- 
vation and distribution of the available stocks of food. 
A third undertook to build a new fleet of commercial 
vessels to take the place of those that were destroyed. 
A fourth took charge of airplane construction, while the 
proper military sections of the general stafY and the several 
bureaus of the navy looked after the production of artillery, 
machine guns, rifles, and all the paraphernalia of war. In 
carrying out such a tremendous program, and trying to 




© Wexiern Xcwspaper Union. 

Admiral Sims 

(Commanding all United States Naval 
Forces in European waters) 



IQiS] 



The Spring of igi8 



617 



do many things that were entirely new, mistakes were in- 
evitable. The Ship Building Board and the Airplane Pro- 
duction Board were especially marked out for criticism, as 
was the artillery production of the War Department. It is 
not unlikely that in the selection of so many persons mis- 
takes were made, and it is not at all unlikely that persons 
who were fit for their jobs were overambitious in their 
plans. Thus it seems that the ship building program 
was held up for months by disputations, and the airplane 
and artillery production were delayed by the desire of 
those having them in charge to build the best ships and 
produce the finest guns and machine guns in the world. 
Then, too, doubtless there was a squandering of money in 
some directions and favoritisms. But, considering every- 
thing and taking a broad view of the whole field, the re- 
sults of all this thought and labor, by the middle of the 
year 1918, were marvelous. Moreover, the spectacle of a Achieve- 
peaceable industrial nation converting itself and its ac- 
tivities into a warlike people, is one of the most astounding 
phenomena of the last five years, and one of which any 
American citizen may well be proud. 

470. The Spring of 1918. — The breaking down of the Collapse of 
Russian Empire in 19 17 led to a collapse of the Russian 
Army that freed Germany from danger on the eastern 
front, and permitted her to put all her strength into one 
great effort against the British and the French, before 
American men and materials could be placed in the con- 
flict on a great scale. Therefore in March, 19 18, the Ger- 
mans struck at the British line near where it joined the 
French. The blow was terrific, and the British Fifth 
Army was destroyed as a fighting force for the time being. 
The French, however, sprang forward to fill the gap, and 
other British armies fought to retrieve the disaster, and 
soldiers were hurried across the Channel from Great 
Britain to take the place of their fallen and captured com- 
rades. Even before this gigantic blow was struck, the 
British and French governments had appealed to the 



Russia. 



6i8 



In the Great War 



[§ 470 



Americans to hasten to the field of battle. The appeal was 
answered. In eight months (April-October, 19 18) two mil- 
lion soldiers with food and supplies were ferried across the 
Atlantic, notwithstanding all the German submarines could 
do. In this enterprise, the British commercial marine bore 
the greater part, but the American naval forces and French 




The Western Front 



naval and air forces did a great deal in convoying, in 
guarding, in guiding these immense fleets through the 
danger zone. Meantime, the American battle fleet joined 
the British battle fleet lying in wait for the Germans in 
the northern waters, and was prepared at all times to fight 
side by side with their sister British ships, and under the 



I9i8| 



The Patriotic Impulse 



619 



command of the Admiral of the British fleet. In June, 
19 1 8, the Germans had regained the Marne and advanced 
to Chateau-Thierry, within fifty miles or so of Paris. On 
June 6-12, the Americans struck the Germans near this 
town and this was the first exhibition to European eyes of 
" the driving power of the American people." 



The Ameri- 
cans. 




U. S. Naval Photo, from Underwood & Underwoud 
"Convoying" (a destroyer laying a smoke screen) 



471. The Patriotic Impulse. — Great as was the feat of 
placing huge armies in Europe with all their belongings 
and equipment in fourteen months' time after the declara- 
tion of war, this was really nothing more than the certain 
result of the patriotic impulse that swept over the Ameri- 
can people. It united them as nothing had ever done 



Unity of 
effort. 



620 



hi the Great War 



[§ 472 



Conserva- 
tion. 



Alien 
enemies. 



before, not even the struggle for independence. It led 
them, women as well as men, to take up the work that fell 
to their hands and to do it with all their might. It im- 
pelled them to conserve food and avoid waste in every kind 
of material that one ordinarily would have regarded as im- 
possible. It compelled them to economize in every possible 
way that they might loan their money to the government 
for the prosecution of the war and for the relief of their 
suffering friends in Europe. It led American men and 
women to abandon comfortable homes in America and to 
cross a submarine-infested ocean to relieve the wants of 
fugitive and starving people, being supplied with food, 
clothing, and funds by those who remained at home. It 
led other thousands, likewise, to cross the ocean to 
minister to the needs of the American soldiers when our 
armies once began to bulk largely in the fields and 
villages of France. 

Here and there, especially among the more recently 
arrived Germans, there were persons and groups of per- 
sons opposed -to the war and to the draft and to the part 
that America and American citizens were playing. Some 
of these were in the pay of the German government and 
others were influenced by their German birth, but some 
of them were native-born Americans of other than German 
parentage. An Espionage Act was passed (June, 19 17) 
giving the government power to deal with spies and those 
who sought to chill the patriotic impulse of Americans. 
Another act authorized the government to intern or confine 
in prison camps Germans or other '' alien enemies." In a 
few instances the people took the matter into their own 
hands and proceeded to punish pacifists and German sym- 
pathizers without recourse to law. This led President 
Wilson, on November 12, 1917, earnestly to protest 
" against any manifestation of the spirit of lawlessness 
anywhere or in any cause. ... A man who takes the 
law into his hands is not the right man to cooperate in 
any form or development of law and institutions." 



IQI?] 



Finances 



621 



472. Finances. — Since 1865, with ever-accelerating Production 
speed, the people of the United States have been accumu- of wealth, 
lating capital and putting the accumulations back into 
industry, so that each revolving year has seen the nation 
capable of vastly greater production. The whole debt of 
the United States in 1865 was something over two and a 
half billion dollars; in the single year 19 12 the actual 
production of wealth was forty billions, and in 19 17 must 




Photo by Broton Bros. 



Subscribers to Liberty Loan 



have been over sixty billions. It is this tremendous in- 
crease in production that enabled the people to lend the 
government twenty-four billion dollars in eighteen months 
time. As the industries of the country turned to the pro- 
duction of food and the materials of war, there was a con- 
stantly increasing demand for labor. Wages went racing 



622 



/;/ the Great War 



[§ 473 



Wages and 
prices. 



The Liberty 
Loans. 



The new 

American 

army. 



upwards and with them prices. In the earlier 37ears of the 
war gold flowed to America from Great Britain and her 
allies, so that there had been an inflation of credit and 
the purchasing power of the dollar had shrunk to lower 
figures than at any time since 1875. This must be borne 
in mind when thinking of the finances of the years of 
war. In May, 1917, the government offered two billion 
dollars in bonds for subscription. This First Liberty Loan 
was to bear three and a half per cent interest and to be 
free from nearly all taxes. Banks and bankers, department 
stores, and organizations of all kinds set to work to secure 
subscriptions. Within one month more than four million 
persons subscribed for over three billion dollars' worth. 
In October, nine million persons subscribed for over four 
billions of the Second Liberty Loan. In March, 1918, 
another four billions were borrowed, and in October, 19 18, 
no less than twenty million persons subscribed to over six 
billions of the Fourth Liberty Loan. In the earlier years 
foreign governments borrowed large sums in the United 
States. Now it was decided that the government should 
act as banker for the Allies, and to the end of 19 18 no 
less than seven billion dollars were loaned to them. 
Among the devices adopted to secure funds from the 
people were War Savings Stamps and Thrift Stamps. 
These found a ready sale and greatly encouraged economy 
and conservation. 

473. The Second Battle of the Marne, July 18, 1918. — 
By the first of July, igi8. General Pershing, the American 
commander in France, had under his orders no less than 
One million men — two thirds of them combat troops — 
and they were arriving from the United States at the rate 
of two hundred thousand and more in each month. By 
the middle of July, the American army was sufficiently 
consolidated to be placed by itself in the battle line, and 
it bore a valiant and important part in the blow that 
General Foch, now commander of all the allied armies, 
struck at the Germans at the beginning of their fifth and, 



igi^ 



St. Mihiel 



623 



as it proved, their last advance toward Paris. The new 
and youthful soldiery of America took up the business of 
fighting with the same intensity of purpose and intelli- 
gence that they put into whatever fell under their hands 
to do. They pushed the Germans out of Chateau-Thierr}^ Chateau- 
and across the Marne, and with their French comrades to Thiern', 

the left and to the right, 



July, 1918. 




followed them to the 
Ourcq, the Vesle, and 
the Aisne between Sois- 
sons and Rheims. Aftsr 
the first the Germans did 
not try to defend their 
front lines, but sought 
to gain time to remove 
their artiller)' and sup- 
plies. This they en- 
deavored to accomplish 
by leaving behind strong 
machine-gun outposts. 
These machine-gun de- 
tachments were the very 
best of the German 
army. They played their 
part in delaying the advance of the Americans and the 
French, and then died at their posts. 

474. St. Mihiel. — In the last half of July and in August 
the British and French armies were very active. The 
British struck blow after blow at the western end. On 
September 2 they broke the Hindenburg line, and the 
French also swept forward between the British attack and Verdun, 
Soissons. On September 12, the Americans' turn came. 
The Germans had gone through Belgium to avoid the 
great French fortified positions at Verdun, Toul, and 
Nancy. They had attacked these, but the French defense 
had been so strong that the enemy had not been able to 
break through in the direct line from the Rhine and Metz 



General Pershing 



624 In the Great War [§475 

to Paris. And this failure was one of the reasons for the 
first German defeat on the Une of the Marne. Southeast 
of Verdun, however, the Germans had driven forward and 
reached the Meuse at St. Mihiel, where the river bends 
sharply to the west. This had given them power to close 
one of the railroads to Verdun. Nevertheless the French 
maintained that stronghold, notwithstanding most terrific 
and prolonged attacks by the Germans ; but they had not 
been able to spare men and artillery to drive the enemy 
out of the St. Mihiel salient. In the night of September 
12, the Americans suddenly struck ihe German defenders 
of the salient from the south, while the French and other 
Americans dealt a blow from a point nearer Verdun. In 
the darkness, with precision that would have been cred- 
itable in veteran troops, the Americans pushed forward, 
crushing the resistance in their front and going through 
forests and over hill and dale, far to the rear of the Ger- 
man line, and the next day joined hands with the force 
that had broken through the German lines from the north. 
The St. Mihiel salient was destroyed, Verdun was once 
again secure, and the American outposts had gained a 
point within ten or twelve miles of the outer batteries of 
the great fortified town of Metz. 

475. In the Argonne. — The British and the French 
troops now went on and were joined at the extreme west- 
ern end by the Belgians. For two weeks the Americans 
occupied themselves with securing their position in front 
of Metz and bringing forward more soldiers and supplies. 
To the northward of Verdun is a picturesque bit of broken 
land, covered with forests and scantily supplied with roads, 
known as the Argonne. It was a very difficult bit of 
country for fighting, but was admirably suited for defense. 
The Germans had established themselves there, maintain- 
ing machine-gun posts and forts at defensive points. On 
September 26, the French and the Americans advanced 
westwardly from Verdun into the Argonne, and between 
it and the River Meuse For weeks the fighting went on, 



I9i8] 



The Armistice 



62 i 



going backward sometimes but for the most part forward, 
although very slowly and with great cost of hfe. It was 
here that one battalion became isolated from the army and 
lost ; but refused to surrender in most vigorous language. 
By the middle of October, German resistance had so 
weakened that the Americans and the French on their left 
were at last able to move forward from this region. 

476. On the Line of the German Retreat. — On October 
14, President Wilson, replying to the second or third Ger- 
man proposal for an armistice, said that nothing could 
be done unless guarantees could be given the Allies to make 
a resumption of hostilities impossible. American naval 
guns were then bombarding German positions on or near the 
line of communication from Belgium to the Rhine. An- 
other American army had already taken the field and with 
the First Army, on November i, began a new movement 
to the north and east of Verdun. Day by day with the 
French to the west of them they pressed forward on both 
sides of the Meuse. On November 7 they captured 
Sedan on the German line of retreat, and on the same day 
the German High Command asked permission to send ne-' 
gotiators through the Allied lines to arrange an armistice. 

477. The Armistice. — At eleven o'clock, November 11, 
19 18, hostilities between Germany and the AUies ceased 
by water, by land, and " in the air." Germany agreed to 
withdraw from all countries occupied by her outside of 
Germany, and to hand over to the Allies all German terri- 
tory west of the Rhine, and a narrow strip east of the 
Rhine, and controlling bits of territory at the principal 
crossings of that river. The Germans were to send back 
all Allied prisoners and deported inhabitants of occupied 
countries without any reciprocity on the part of the Allies, 
who were to continue to hold German prisoners and ci- 
vilians until further arrangements should be made. The 
Germans were to hand over great quantities of war ma- 
terial, machine guns, big guns, airplanes, and quantities 
of railroad rolling stock and motor trucks. They were 



Proposals 
for peace. 



Hostilities 
end. 



626 In the Great War 

to surrender the whole German navy, — battleships, de- 
stroyers, submarines, and all the rest, including those 
that were building. The Allies were given access to the 
Baltic and the Black Sea and the Germans recognized the 
principle of reparation for damage done by them. Mean- 
time, until the final peace is made or other arrangements 
are entered into, the Allied blockade of German ports is to 
remain in full vigor. And now, April, 1919, the Ameri- 
can Army of Occupation with its British, French, and Bel- 
gian associates is keeping watch on the Rhine, waiting for 
peace. 



SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS AND TOPICS 

§§ 456-461. Wilson's First Administration 

a. Summarize Wilson's policy as to Mexico. 
0. Population and wealth in 191 7. 

c. Why should Taft and Wilson have vetoed the immigration 
restriction acts ? 

d. Why has the United States intervened in San Domingo? 

§§ 462-465. The United States a Neutral Power 

a. Why was the United States the one great neutral manufacturing 
power ? 

b. What do you think of submarine warfare against unarmed 
merchant passenger ships? 

c. Describe the uses of airplanes in war. 

§§ 466-477. America in the War 

a. Why did the United States enter the War? 

b. How was it possible to raise the great Liberty Loans? 

c. Describe the Americans on the Marne. 

d. Trace the Americans in battle from the Marne to Sedan. 



Suggestive Questians and Topics 627 

General Questions 

Subjects for special study in secondary authorities. 

Assign to each student or group of students the following topics to 
be studied in the local library: (i) the selective draft, the provisions 
of the act and workings of the board, etc.; (2) the food administra- 
tion, airplane production board, or any of the other boards and the 
work performed by one or more of these boards; (3) General Persh- 
ing's preparation for his place, or that of any other military or admin- 
istrative officer; (4) one battle or movement in which the American 
soldiers played an important part, as Belleau Wood or St. Mihiel; 
(5) elaborate the armistice provisions and compare them with the 
peace treaty when it is published. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



In Congress, July 4, 1776, 

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States 
OF America, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one 
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with 
another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate 
and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God 
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happi- 
ness. That to secure these rights. Governments are instituted among 
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these 
ends it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to insti- 
tute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and 
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 
to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indefed, will dictate 
that Governments long established should not be changed for light 
and transient causes ; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to 
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably 
the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Des- 
potism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, 
and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been 
the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 
of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this. Jet Pacts be 
submitted to a candid world, 

i 



ii Declaration of Independence 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and neces> 
sary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and 
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent 
should be obtained ; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected 
to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large 
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of 
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and 
formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncom- 
fortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for 
the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing 
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others 
to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihila- 
tion, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State 
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from 
without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States ; for 
that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; 
refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising 
the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his 
Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of 
their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms 
of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace. Standing Armies without 
the Consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior 
to the Civil Power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign 
to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his 
Assent to their acts of pretended legislation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any 
Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: 

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent : 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury : 



Declaration of Independence iii 

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences ; 

For abolishing the free System of Enghsh Laws in a neighbouring 
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging 
its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument 
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: 

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Law^ 
and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments : 

For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves in- 
vested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Pro* 
tection and waging War against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and 
destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to 
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begutt 
with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most 
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high 
Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners 
of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeav- 
oured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian 
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction 
of all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress 
in the most humble terms : Our repeated Petitions have been answered 
only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by 
every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free 
People. 

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We 
have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to 
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them 
of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have 
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured 
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. 
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. 
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our 
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind. Enemies 
in War, in Peace Friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, 
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of 
the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do; in the Name, and by 



iv Declaration of Independence 

Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and 
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free 
and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to 
the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and 
the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and 
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, 
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all 
other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the 
Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. 

JOHN HANCOCK. 

New Hatnpskire — JosiAH Bartlett, Wm. Whipple, Matthew 
Thornton. 

Massachusetts Bay — Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. Treat 
Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 

Rhode Island — Step. Hopkins, William Ellery. 

Connecticut — Roger Sherman, Sam'el Huntington, Wm. Will- 
iams, Oliver Wolcott. 

New York — Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, Frans, Lewis, Lewis 
Morris. 

New Jersey — RicHD. Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, Eras. Hop- 
kinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark. 

Pennsylvania — Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. Frank- 
lin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. Taylor, James 
Wilson, Geo. Ross. 

Delaware — C^sar Rodney, Geo. Read, Tho. M'Kean. 

Maryland — Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. Stone, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton. 

Virginia — George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Th. Jefferson, 
Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton. 

North Carolina — Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn. 

South Carolina — Edward Rutledge, Thos. Heyward, Junr., 
Thomas Lynch, Junr., Arthur Middleton. 

Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton. ^ 

^ This arrangement of the names is made for convenience. The 
states are not mentioned in the original. 



CONSTITUTION 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA* 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect 
Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the 
common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Bless- 
ings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and estab- 
lish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

ARTICLE. I. 

Section, i. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested 
in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and 
Hou^e of Representatives. 

Section. 2. The House of Representatives shall be composed of 
Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, 
and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite 
for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. 

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to 
the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the 
United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of 
that State in which he shall be chosen. 

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the 
several States which may be included within this Union, according to 
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a 
Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all 
other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three 
Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and 
within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they 
shall by Law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed 
one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one 

* Reprinted from the text issued by the State Department. 

V 



vi Constitutio7t of the United States 

Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State 
of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts 
eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut live, 
New-York six. New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, 
Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina live, South Carolina five, 
and Georgia three. 

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the 
Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such 
Vacancies. 

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other 
Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. 

Section. 3. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of 
two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for 
six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. 

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the 
first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three 
Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated 
at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expira- 
tion of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the 
sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if 
Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of 
the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make tempo- 
rary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which 
shall then fill such Vacancies, 

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the 
Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, 
and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that .State for 
which he shall be chosen. 

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the 
Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. 

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro 
tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exer- 
cise the Office of President of the United States. 

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. 
When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. 
When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall 
preside : And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence 
of two thirds of the Members present. 

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to 
removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office 
of honor. Trust or Profit under the United States : but the Party con- 
victed shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, 
Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. 

Section. 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections 



Constitution of the United States vii 

for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by 
the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law 
make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing 
Senators. 

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such 
Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall 
by Law appoint a different Day. 

Section. 5. Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Re- 
turns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each 
shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may 
adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attend- 
ance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as 
each House may provide. 

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its 
Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two 
thirds, expel a member. 

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time 
to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment 
require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either 
House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, 
be entered on the Journal. 

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the 
Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any 
other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. 

Section. 6. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Com- 
pensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of 
the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except 
Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest 
during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and 
in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or 
Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other 
Place. 

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he 
was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the 
United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments 
whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person 
holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of 
either House during his Continuance in Office. 

Section. 7. All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the 
House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with 
Amendments as on other Bills. 

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives 
and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the 
President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if 



viii ConstiUition of the United States 

not he shall return it, with his Objections, to that House in which it 
shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their 
Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration 
two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, 
together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall like- 
wise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it 
shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses 
shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons 
voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each 
House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President 
within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented 
to him, the same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, 
unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which 
Case it shall not be a Law. 

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the 
Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a 
question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the 
United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved 
by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds 
of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules 
and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect 
Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide 
for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; 
but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the 
United States; 

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several 
States, and with the Indian Tribes; 

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws 
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; 

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and 
fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; 

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and 
current Coin of the United States; 

To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for 
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their 
respective Writings and Discoveries; 

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; 

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high 
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations; 

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make 
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; 



Constitution of the United States ix 

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that 
Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; 

To provide and maintain a Navy; 

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and 
naval Forces; 

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the 
Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; 

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and 
for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of 
the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment 
of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to 
the discipline prescribed by Congress; 

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such 
District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of partic- 
ular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the 
Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over 
all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in 
which the same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arse- 
nals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; — And 

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by 
this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any 
Department or Officer thereof. 

Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any 
of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be pro- 
hibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred 
and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not 
exceeding ten dollars for each Person. 

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, 
unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may 
require it. 

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed. 

No Capitation, or other direct. Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion 
to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken. 

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State. 

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or 
Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another : nor shall 
Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay 
Duties in another. 

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence 
of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account 
of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be pub- 
lished from time to time. 

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States : And no 



X Constitiction of the United States 

Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without 
the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, 
or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. 

Section, io. No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or 
Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; 
emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a 
Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto 
Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title 
of Nobility. 

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Im- 
posts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection Laws : and the net Produce of all 
Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be 
for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws 
shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. 

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of 
Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into 
any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign 
Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent 
Danger as will not admit of delay. 

ARTICLE. II. 

Section, i. The executive Power shall be vested in a President of 
the United States of America. lie shall hold his Office during the 
Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for 
the same Term, be elected, as follows 

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof 
may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Sena- 
tors and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the 
Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an 
Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed 
an Elector. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot 
for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the 
same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Per- 
sons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each ; which List they 
shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. 
The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes 
shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of 
Votes shall be the President, if such Number be a Majority of the 
whole Number of Electors appointed; and if there be more than one 



Constitution of the United States xi 

who have such Majority, and have an equal Number of Votes, then the 
House of Representatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of 
them for President; and if no Person have a Majority, then from the 
five highest on the List the said House shall in like Manner chuse the 
President. But in chusing the President, the Votes shall be taken by 
States, the Representation from each State having one Vote; A quorum 
for this Purpose shall consist of a Member or Members from two thirds 
of the States, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a 
Choice. In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person 
having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice 
President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal 
Votes, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President. 

The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and 
the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the 
same throughout the United States. 

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United 
States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible 
to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that 
Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and 
been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States, 

In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, 
Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said 
Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress 
may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or 
Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what 
Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, 
until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. 

The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Com- 
pensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the 
Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive 
within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or 
any of them. 

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the fol- 
lowing Oath or Affirmation : — 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the 
Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my 
Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United 
States." 

Section. 2. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the 
Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several 
States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may 
require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the 
executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their 
respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and 



xii Constitution of the United States 

Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases ol 
Impeachment. 

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 
Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present 
concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent 
of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the 
United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided 
for, and which shall be established by Law : but the Congress may by 
Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, 
in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of 
Departments. 

The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may 
happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions 
which shall expire at the End of their next Session. 

Section. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress Infor- 
mation of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration 
such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on 
extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and 
in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of 
Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think 
proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he 
shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commis- 
sion all the Officers of the United States. 

Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of 
the United States, shall Tie removed from Office on Impeachment for, 
and Conviction of. Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Mis- 
demeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

Section, i. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be 
vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Con- 
gress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both 
of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good 
Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Com- 
pensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in 
Office. 

Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law 
and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United 
States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Author- 
ity; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and 
Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; — to 
Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; — to Contro- 
versies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens 



Constitution of the United States xiii 

of another State; — between Citizens of different States, — between 
Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different 
States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, 
Citizens or Subjects. ' 

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Con- 
suls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall 
have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, 
the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law 
and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such regulations as the 
Congress shall make. 

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be 
by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes 
shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, 
the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law 
have directed. 

Section. 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only 
in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving 
them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless 
on the Testimony of two "Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Con- 
fession in open Court. 

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Trea- 
son, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or 
Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. 

ARTICLE. IV. 

Section, i. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to 
the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. 
And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which 
such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect 
thereof 

Section. 2. The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all 
Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. 

A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other 
Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall 
on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, 
be delivered up, to be removed lO the State having Jurisdiction of the 
Crime. 

No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or 
Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but 
shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or 
Labour may be due. 

Section. 3. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this 



xiv Constitution of the United States 

Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Juris, 
diction of any other State ; nor any State be formed by the Junction 
of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the 
Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 

The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful 
Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property 
belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall 
be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of 
any particular State. 

Section. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in 
this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each 
of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of 
the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against 
domestic Violence. 

ARTICLE. V. 

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it 
necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall 
call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, 
shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, 
when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, 
or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that 
no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand 
eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth 
Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, 
without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the 
Senate. 

ARTICLE. VI. 

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the 
Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United 
States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation. 

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be 
made in Pursuance thereof ; and all Treaties made, or which shall 
be made, under the Authority of the United States, sha.i be the supreme 
Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, 
any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary 
notwithstanding. 

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Mem- 
bers of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial 
Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be 



Constitution of the United States xv 

bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution ; but no 
religious Test sliall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or 
public Trust under the United States. 



ARTICLE. VII. 

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient 
for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratify- 
ing the Same. 

THE AMENDMENTS. 



Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, 
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably to 
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 



A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be 
infringed. 



No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, with* 
out the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to 
be prescribed by law. 

IV. 

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, 
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, sup- 
ported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to 
be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 



V. 

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infa- 
mous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, 
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, 
when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any 
person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of 



xvi Constitution of the United States 

life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be witness 
against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law ; nor shall private property be taken for public use, 
without just compensation. 

VI. 

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a 
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district 
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have 
been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature 
and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses in 
his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence. 

vii. 

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed 
twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact 
tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of tha 
United States, than according to the rules of the common law. 



Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, 
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 



The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be 
construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. 

X. 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, 
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respec- 
tively, or to the people. 

XI. 

Tiie Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to 
extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against 
one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or 
Subjects of any Foreign State. 

XII. 

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot 
for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be 
an inhabitant of the same state with themselves ; they shall name in 
their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots 



Constitution of the United States xvii 

the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct 
lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for 
as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists 
they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the 
government of the United States, directed to the President of the 
Senate; — The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of 
the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates 
and the votes shall then be counted ; — The person having the greatest 
number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number 
be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and if no 
person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest 
numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, 
the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the 
President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by 
States, the representation from each state having one vote ; a quorum 
for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds 
of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a 
choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a Presi- 
dent whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the 
fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act 
as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional dis- 
ability of the President. The person having the greatest number of 
votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be 
a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person 
have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the 
Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose 
shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a 
majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no 
person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. 



Section i. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a 
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to 
their jurisdiction. 

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by 
appropriate legislation. 



Section i. Ail persons born or naturalized in the United States, 
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States 
and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce 



xviii Constitution of the United States 

any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens 
of the United States : nor shall any State deprive any person of life, 
liberty, or property, without due process of law ; nor deny to any 
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several 
States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole num- 
ber of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when 
the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President 
and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, 
the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the 
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such 
State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, 
or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other 
crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the pro- 
portion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the v/hole 
number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. 

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in 
Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, 
civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, 
having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an 
officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or 
as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But 
Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such 
disability. 

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, 
authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions 
and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall 
not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall 
assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or 
rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emanci- 
pation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be 
held illegal and void. 

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appro- 
priate legislation, the provisions of this article. 



XV. 

Section i. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall 
not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 



Constitution of the United States xix 



The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, 
from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the 
several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. 



The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators 
from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years ; and each 
Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the 
State legislatures. 

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the 
Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of elec- 
tion to fill such vacancies : Provided that the legislature of any State 
may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments 
until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may 
direct. 

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election 
or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the 
Constitution. 



Section i. After one year from the ratification of this article the 
manufacture, sale or transportatiun of intoxicating liquors within, the 
importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United 
States and all Territories subject to the jurisdiction thereof for bever- 
age purposes are hereby prohibited. 

Sec. 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concur- 
rent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. 

Sec. 3, This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been 
ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the Legislatures 
of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven 
years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the 
Congress. 



INDEX 



Abolitionists, in colonial times, loi ; in 
Washington's administration, 237; in 
1831, 366, 367; in 1S50, 401; in i860, 
439. See Antislavery and Slavery. 

Acadia, 41, 93. 

Adams, John, portrait, 253; autograph, 
227: defends British soldiers, 130; and 
the Declaration of Independence, 154; 
peace commissioner, 1782, 178: Vice- 
Presidentj_226, 227, 244; President, 
249, 250; defeated for re-election, 258; 
partisan conduct, 260. 

Adams, John Quincy, portrait, 333; auto- 
graph, 327; commissioner at Ghent, 
310; defends Jackson's Florida raid, 
321 ; and the Monroe Doctrine, 325 
326; elected President, 332-336; ad- 
ministration of, 336-341; in House of 
Representatives, 368; on the Presi- 
dent's war powers, 445. 

Adams, Samuel, portrait, 125; leads op- 
position movement in Massachusetts, 
125; and the Boston Massacre, 129; 
local Committees of Correspondence, 
131 ; in Continental Congress, 136. 

Adet, French minister, 244. 

Agricultural industries' in 1800, 269; in 
i860, 431. 

Alabama, Confederate cruiser, 495. 

Alabama claims, 517, 518. 

Alaska, acquisition of, 513, 514; boundary 
of, 575; resources, 574-576- 

Albany Congress and Plan (1754), 99, 100. 

Albany Conference (i860), 446. 

Albany Junto, 339. 

Alexandria Convention, 202. 

Alien and Sedition Acts, 251-254. 

Amadas, Philip, explores Virginia, 34. 

America, physiography of, 1-12; discov- 
ery and exploration of, 15-37; naming 
of, 22. 

American Association, 137. 

American people, physical characteristics 
of, 11; condition of, in 1800, 263-267; 
in 1830, 345-358; in i860, 423-435; in 
1900, 598. 

Americus Vespucius, see Vespucius. 

xxi 



Andre, John, 165-168. 

Andrew, John A., 446, 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 87. 88. 

Annapolis Convention, 203. 

Anti-Nebraska men, 413. 

Antietam, battle of, 478. 

Antislavery agitation (1790), 238; (1831- 
38), 366-369. 

Appomattox, surrender at, 497. 

.■\ristotle (ar'is-tot-1), on shape of earth, 
16. 

Arizona, 542. 

Arkansas, formation of territory of, 328, 
329- 

Armada, Spanish, defeat of, 36; impor- 
tance of, in American history, 37. 

Arnold, Benedict, invades Canada, 148; 
at Saratoga, 160; reprimanded by 
Washington, 165; treason of, 166. 

Arthur, Chester A., Vice-President and 
President, 532, 534. 

Articles of Confederation, 186 189. 

Atlanta campaign. 490, 491. 

Ay lion, de (da-il yon'), Lucas Vasquez, 
attempts to found colony, 27. 

Balboa (bal-bo'a), see Nunez. 
Baltimore, Baron, see Calvert. 
Behaim ((ba'hem), Martin, his globe, 16. 
Bell, John, nominated President, i860, 

437- 

Berkeley, Lord, 78, 79. 

Berkeley, Sir William, governor of Vir- 
ginia, 48, 86. 

Bladensburg, battle of, 305. 

Blair, F. P., 454, 455. 

Body of Liberties, the, 64. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon, 257; sells Louisi- 
ana, 285: decrees as to commerce, 291, 
292, 296. 

" Border states " in Civil War, 454, 45s; 
slavery in, 484. 

Boston, founded, 58; king's commis- 
sioners at, 77; in i68g, 88; massacre 
at (1770), 129; destruction of tea at, 
134; siege of, in 1775-76, 139, 146-149; 
Garrison mob at, 367. 



XXll 



Index 



Boxer Rebellion, 573. 

Bradford, William, governor of Ply- 
mouth, 55. 

Bragg, Confederate general, 479, 481, 488. 

Breckinridge, John C, Vice-President, 
415; nominated President, i860, 439. 

Brown, General Jacob, in War of 1812, 
305. 

Brown, John, portrait, 419; autograph, 
412; in Kansas, 412; execution of, 418- 
420. 

Buchanan, James, portrait, 440; in the 
Senate, 369; elected President, 415; in 
the secession crisis, 440, 

Buell, General, 479. 

Bull Run, first battle of, 466, 467; second 
battle of, 477, 478. 

Bunker Hill, battle of, 146. 

Burgoyne, British general, 158-160. 

Burns, attempted rescue of, 405. 

Burnside, General A. E., at Fredericks- 
burg, 478, 479; at Knoxville, 488-490. 

Burr, Aaron, Vice-President, 259, 288; 
kills Hamilton, 288; conspiracy and 
trial, 288, 289. 

Cabeza de Vaca (ka-ba's'a da vaka), 
Alvar Nunez, his wanderings, 27, 28. 

Cabot, George, on Democracy, 276. 

Cabot (kab'ot), John, discovers North 
America, 21. 

Cabot, Sebastian, his map, 22. 

Calhoun, John C, portrait, 364: auto- 
graph, 402; member of Congress, 300; 
advocates nationalism, 316; as Secre- 
tary of War proposes to court-martial 
Jackson, 321; hxs Exposition, -^o; his 
theory of states' rights, 360; and nulli- 
fication, 363-365; on antislavery peti- 
tions, 368, 369; on "incendiary publi- 
cations," 369; Secretary of State, 381; 
negotiates treaty for annexation of 
Texas, 387, 388; on the compromise of 
1850, 402. 

California, seized by the United States, 
390; discovery of gold in, 395; applies 
for admission to the Union, 396. 

Callender, trial of, 254. 

Calvert, George, Baron Baltimore, 49. 

Calvert, Cecilius, second Baron Balti- 
more, founds Maryland, 49, 50. 

Cambridge Agreement, 56. 

Cameron, Simon, 438; Secretary of War, 
451- 

Canada, relations with, 583. 

Canning, George, British foreign minis- 
ter and Monroe Doctrine, 327. 



Carolinas, the. charters of, 84; settle, 
ment of, 84, 85; rebellion in (1719), 92; 
claims of, to western lands, 190. See 
also North Carolina, South Carolina. 

Carteret, Sir George, 78, 79, 84. 

Cartier (kar'tya'), Jacques, discovers the 
St. Lawrence, 30. 

Cass, Lewis, nominated President, 397, 

Champlain, Samuel de, 41. 

Chancellorsville, battle of, 486. 

Charleston, S. C, 102; in 1800, 275; in 
Nullification episode, 365; Democratic 
convention at {i860), 435. 

Charters, Virginia, 42, 44; Maryland, 50; 
New England, 51; Massachusetts, 56, 
57-60, (1691), 90; Providence Planta- 
tions, 60; Rhode Island, 77; Connecti- 
cut, 77; Pennyslvania, 80; Carolina, 
84; Georgia, 91. 

Charter of Privileges (Pernia.), 83. 

Chase, Salmon P., on Kansas-Nebraska 
Act, 408; Secretary of the Treasury, 
451- 

Chase, Samuel, impeachment of, 282. 

Chatham, Lord (William Pitt), 96, 113, 
123. 138- 

Chattanooga, battle of, 488, 489. 

Chesapeake outrage, the, 293. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 488, 489. 

Cities, population of, in 1800, 264; in 
1830. 348; in i860, 424; in 1910, 598. 

Civil Rights Bill, 508. 

Civil Service Reform, 534, 536, 537. 

Civil War, campaigns of the, 452, 466- 
469, 481, 484-487, 488-495, 497; opposi- 
tion to, in the North, 487, 488. 

Clark, General G. R., portrait, 190: con- 
quers western territory, 190. 

Clay, Henry, portrait, 335; autograph, 
401; Speaker of House, 300; negotia- 
tion of Treaty of Ghent, 310; and Mis- 
souri Compromise, 330; candidate for 
presidency, 334; Secretary of State, 
336; and the Bank, 372, 379; nominated 
for the presidency (1844), 388; and 
compromise of 1850, 401-403. 

Cleveland, Grover, portrait, 537; elected 
President, 536; first administration, 537, 
538; second administration, 543, 544. 

Clinton, British general, 164, 168, 171. 

Clinton, De Witt, 353. 

Cold Harbor, battle of, 493. 

Coligny, de (deh ko'len'ye'), Gaspard, 
and American colonization, 30. 

Columbus (ko-lCim'bus), Christopher, his 
theory as to shape of earth, 16; first 
voyage, 18; second voyage, 19; third 



Index 



xxm 



voyage, 20; fourth voyage, 21; death, 
21. 
Committees of Correspondence, 131-133, 

135- 

Compromises, of the Constitution, 206; 
of 1820, 329-331 ; of 1833, 365; of 1850, 
401-403; suggested in i860, 440. 

Confederate States, Constitution of the, 
442. 

Confederation of New England, 64, 65. 

Confederation of the United States, 186- 
189; articles ratified, 192-194; attempts 
to amend, 201. 

Congress, the Alhany, 99-101; the Stamp 
Act, 121, 122: First Continental, 135- 
137; Second Continental, 146-148; of 
the confederation, 188; under the Con- 
stitution, 209. 

Connecticut, founding of, 6e, 63; charter 
of, 78; claims to western lands, 189, 
191; cessions of, 193; in War of 1812, 
311-313; antislavery agitation in, 367. 

Constitution of the United States, forma- 
tion and discussion of, 205-216; ratifi- 
cation of, 216-218, 232; first ten amend- 
ments, 219, 220. 

Consiitntwii, the, and Guerrieri', 307, 
308. 

Constitutional Convention, see Federal 
Convention. 

Constitutional Union Party, 437. 

Continental Congress, see Congress. 

Continental line, 162, 170, 172. 

Conway Cabal, 161, 162. 

Cornwallis, British general, 169-171. 

Coronado (ko-ro-na'do), Francisco Vas- 
quez, his e,\pedition, 28. 

Cortereal, de (kor-til-rS-al'), Caspar, on 
coast of Labrador, 25. 

Cortez ( kor'tez), Hernando, conquers 
Mexico, 26. 

Cotton gin, influence of the, 272. 

Cotton manufacture, 272, 273. 

Crawford, Wm. H., Secretary of the 
Treasury, 333; nominated for presi- 
dency, 334-336. 

Crittenden Compromise, 441. 

Cuba, relations with, 1807-60, 548, 549; 
misgovernment of, 1868-98, 549, 550; 
war with Spain to free, 551-558; free- 
dom of, 559; relations with United 
States, 562, 563. 

Dale, Sir Thomas, governor of Virginia, 

45- 
Dale's law, 45, 46. 
Dartmouth College case, 319. 



Davis, Jefferson, 442. 

Deane, .Silas, 162. 

Declaration of Independence, 153-157. 

Declaration of Rights, of Massachusetts, 
ori66i, 76; of 1765, 137. 

Declaratory Act, 123. 

Delaware, Swedes in, 68; conquered by 
the Dutch, 68; becomes English terri- 
tory, 78; granted to Penn, 80; sep- 
arates from Pennsylvania, 80; negro 
slavery in, loi. 

De Monts, grant to, 40. 

Dewey, Admiral, 550, 551. 

Dickinson, John, portrait, 187; 125, 156, 
187. 

Douglas, Stephen A., Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill, 407, 408; " Freeport Doctrine," 
417: nominated for presidency, 435; 
supports Lincoln, 454. 

Draft riots (1863), 488. 

Drake, Sir Francis, with Hawkins, 33; 
his voyage around the world, 33; suc- 
cors Ralegh colonists, 35. 

Dred Scott case, 416, 417. 

Dutch settlements, 66-68; conquered by 
English, 78. 

Early, Jubal, Confederate general, 495. 
Education in the colonies, 105, 106; in 

1800, 275, 276: in 1830, 356. 
Edwards, Jonathan, 104. 
Elections, presidential, of 1789, 225; of 

1796, 249; of 1800, 257; of 1824, 332; 

of 1828, 341; of 1840, 377; of 1844, 388; 

of 1848, 397-399; of 1852, 405-407; of 

1856, 415, 416; of i860, 435-439; of 

1864, 496; of 1868, 514; of 1876, 525; 

of 1880, 531; of 1884, 535; of 1888, 539; 

of 1892, 542; of 1896, 546; of 1900, 571; 

of 1904, 579; of 1908, 581; of 1912, 585. 
Ellsworth, Oliver, 260. 
Emancipation of slaves (1785-1800), 273, 

274; (1863-65), 483, 484. 
Emancipation Proclamation, 483, 484. 
Embargo, of 1794, 246; Jefferson's, 294— 

296. 
England, see Great Britain. 
Era of Good Feeling, 332, 333. 
Eratosthenes (er-a-tos'the-neez) on shape 

of earth, 16. 
Ericson, Leif (life er'ik-son), 15. 
Ericsson, John, inventor, 475. 
Erie Canal, 353. 
Erskine, British Minister, 297. 

Farragut, Admiral D. G., 472; at New Or- 
leans, 472. 



V 



XXIV 



Index 



Federal capital, site of, 236. 

Federal Convention, 203-205. 

Federal ratio, 207. 

Federalist party, supremacy of the, 225; 
fall of the, 276; extinction of the, 315, 

Fifteenth Amendment, 515. 

Fillmore, Millard, Vice-President, suc- 
ceeds Taylor as President, 403; nomi- 
nated for presidency, 415. 

Fisheries, 181, 1S2, 311, 518. 

Fletcher 7's. Peck, case of, 319. 

Florida, discovery of, 26; French and 
Spanish in, 30-32; ceded to Great 
Britain, 96; boundaries of, 98; ceded 
back to Spain, rgg; invaded by Jack- 
son, 321; purchased by United States, 
321-323; admitted to Union, 426. 

Fourteenth Amendment, 508, 509. 

Fox, Charles James, 138, 176. 

Fox, George, founder of Society of 
Friends, 74, 75. 

Fox, Gustavus Vasa, 451. 

France, American colonies of, 30-32, 41 ; 
colonists of, conquered by British, 93- 
97; treaty of alliance with, 162, 163; 
during negotiations for peace, 176-179; 
influence of, in America, 242-244; con- 
troversy with (1798-99), 248; treaty of 
1800,256,257; spoliation claims, 257; 
and neutral commerce, 290, 291 ; settle- 
ment of claims against, 371 ; interferes 
in Mexico, 513. 

Franchise, the, 141, 207, 509, 515, 587. 

Franklin, Benjamin, portrait, 177; frames 
Albany Plan, 99, 100; colonial agent, 
123; and Declaration of Independence, 
154; at Paris, 162; peace commissioner, 
178; drafts plan for confederation, 187; 
delegate to Federal Convention, 204; 
president of Abolition Society, 238. 

Fredericksburg, battle of, 478-479. 

Freedmen's Bureau, 507, 508. 

Fremont, John C, nominated for presi- 
dency (1856), 415; in Missouri, 481; 
nominated for presidency (1864), 496. 

French and Indian Wars, 93, 94, 95-97. 

Freneau, Philip, 242, 275. 

Friends, Society of, see Quakers. 

Fugitive slaves, 238, 404, 405. 

Fulton, Robert, portrait, 270; invents 
steamboat, 269, 353. 

Gadsden Purchase, 425. 
Gag resolutions, 368. 
Gage, British general, 138, 139, 157. 
Gallatin, Albert, portrait, 279; autograph, 
310; opposes repressive legislation. 



253; Secretary of the Treasury, 280; 
at Ghent, 310. 

Gama, da (da ga'ma), Vasco, discovers 
sea route to India, 25. 

Garfield, James A., portrait, 532; Presi- 
dent, 533. 

Garrison, W. L., Abolition leader, 366, 
367; portrait, 399. 

Gaspee, burning of the, 132. 

Gates, General Horatio, 158, 161, 169. 

Genet, French agent, 244. 

Georgia founded, 91, 92; enlarged, 99; 
claims of, to western lands, 190; ces- 
sions of, 194; controversy as to Indians, 
338; secession of, 441. 

Gerry, Elbridge, 205, 2511 

Gettysburg, battle of, 486, 487. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, his voyages and 
death, 34. 

Gomez (go'mess), Estevan, sails along 
Atlantic coast, 27. 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, 60. 

Gorton, Samuel, 62. 

Government, reform of city, 594. 

Grant, General U. S., portrait and auto- 
graph, 489; secures control of the 
Ohio, 469; captures Forts Henry and 
Donelson, 469; at Shiloh, 473, 474; 
captures Vicksburg, 484, 485; victory 
at Chattanooga, 490; lieutenant gen- 
eral, 490; Wilderness campaign, 493, 
494; besieges Petersburg, 495; Appo- 
mattox Court House, 497; President, 
514; re-elected, 524; and the civil serv- 
ice, 577- 

Great Britain, acknowledges independ- 
ence of United States, 176- 1 79 ; relations 
with (1783-89), 179-182; Jay's treaty 
with, 246, 247; and neutral trade, 290, 
291; proposed treaty with (1806), 291; 
treaty with (1809), 297, 298; War of 
18 1 2 with, 298-309; relations with, 1815- 
18,320; relations with (1825-29), 337, 
338; (1829-37), 37°> 371 1 Ashburton 
treaty with, 380, 381; Oregon treaty, 
391-393; during Civil War, 470, 495, 
496; Alabama arbitration with, 517,518. 

Greeley, Horace, 433, 446, 483; nomi- 
nated for presidency, 523, 524. 

Grenville, George, British minister, I22~ 
124. 

Guadalupe Hidalgo, treaty of, 390. 

Hale, John P., 399. 
Halleck, General, 473, 474. 
Hamilton, Alexander, portrait, 235; auto- 
graph, 240; intrigues against Adams, 



Index 



XXV 



227,250,258; political views, 229; Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, 234—236; finan- 
cial measures, 237, 239-241; letter to 
Dayton, 255; killed by Burr, 288. 

Harrison, Benjamin, portrait, 539; elected 
President, 539; administration, 539, 540. 

Harrison, Wm. H., defeats Indians at 
Tippecanoe, 299; elected President, 
378; death, 378. 

Hartford Convention, 311-313. 

Harvey, John, governor of Virginia, 48. 

Hawaii, annexation of, 563, 564. 

Hawkins, John, succors Huguenot col- 
ony, 32; his slave-trading voyages, 

32, 33- 

Hayes, R. B., President, 526, 529-531. 

Hayne, R. Y., debate with Webster, 
359-363- 

Helper, H. R., his IinperidingCrisis, 420. 

Henry, Patrick, portrait, 114; autograph, 
120; in the Parson's Cause, 114-116 ; 
his resolutions on the Stamp Act, 120 ; 
proposes Committees of Correspond- 
ence, 132 ; on representation, 186 ; op- 
poses ratification of the Constitution, 
218-220 ; nominated commissioner to 
France, 256. 

Hessians, the, 152. 

Higginson, T. W., 405. 

Hood, Confederate general, 491-493. 

Hooker, General Joseph, 479, 486. 

Houston, Samuel, 387. 

Howe, British general, 157. 

Hudson, Henry, 66, 67. 

Huguenots (hu'ge-not), colony of the, 30, 
31 ; destroyed by Menendez, 31, 32. 

Hutchinson, Anne, 61, 62. 

Hutchinson, Thomas, governor of Mas- 
sachusetts, portrait, 131 ; 129-131, 134. 

Hylacomylus, see Waldseemuller. 

Immigration, 413, 424, 425, 598. 
Implied powers, doctrine of, 210, 211. 
Impressment controversy, 292, 293. 
Independence, declaration of, 153-157. 
Independent democrats, appeal of the, 

408, 409. 
Independent Treasury Act, 376, 377. 
Industrial development, 269-273, 316, 430- 

432, 567, 568. 
Initiative, 590. 
Internal revenue taxes, 239, 240, 459, 537, 

538. 
Interstate Commerce, 580. 
Inventions, 269-273, 355, 394, 432. 
Iron industry, growth of, 567. 
Iroquois, League of the, 67. 



Jackson, Andrew, portrait, 347 ; at New 
Orleans, 30S ; in Seminole War, 321 ; 
candidate for presidency (1824), 344 j^ 
elected President, 341, 342 : character 
of, 342, 346, 347 ; administration of, 
345-377 ; and the Civil Service, 359 ; 
and Nullification, 363-365 ; his war on 
the Bank, 371-373 ; his specie circular, 
375, 376- 

Jackson, British minister, 298. 

Jackson, Confederate general, 477, 486. 

Jackson, William, upholds slavery, 238. 

Jamestown settled, 43. 

Jay, John, portrait, 246 ; in Continental 
Congress, 136, 149 ; negotiator of treaty 
of peace of 1783, 178 ; Chief Justice, 
246 ; negotiates Jay's Treaty, 246. 

Jefferson, Thomas, portrait, 277 ; fac- 
simile of manuscript, 155 ; on represen- 
tation, 119 ; Colonial Committees of 
Correspondence, 132 ; his Summary 
Vieiv, 136, 154; in Continental Con- 
gress, 149 ; drafts Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, 154 ; minister to France, 
228 ; political theories of, 227 ; on con- 
stitutionality of a national bank, 240 ; 
founds Republican party, 241 ; author 
of Kentucky Resolutions, 254, 255 ; 
elected Vice-President, 250 ; elected 
President, 259 ; administrations of, 
278-296 ; inaugural address, 278, 279 ; 
and the Civil Service, 280-282 ; the 
Louisiana Purchase, 283 ; embargo 
policy of, 294-296 ; on Missouri Com- 
promise, 329 ; and Cuba, 548. 

Johnson, Andrew, elected Vice-President, 
496 ; becomes President, 498 ; admin- 
istration of, 505-511 ; impeachment of, 

5"-5i3- 

Johnston, Albert Sidney, Confederate 
general, 473, 474. 

Johnston, Joseph E., Confederate gen- 
eral, 466, 467, 475, 477, 490, 491. 

Jones, Paul, 171. 

Judiciary, Federal, 210, 233, 259, 260. 

Kansas, struggle for, 411-416. 
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 407, 408. 
Kentucky Resolutions, 254, 255. 
Kieft, governor of New Netherland, 67, 68, 
Know-Nothing party, 413, 415. 
Ku-Klux-Klan, 516. 

Labor, organized, 570. 
Laud, William, 57. 

Laudonniere, de (deh 15'do'ne fir') Ren^, 
governor of Huguenot colony, 31. 



XXVI 



Index 



Laurens, Henry, 178. 

Lawrence, Amos A., 411. 

Lecompton convention and constitution, 
412. 

Lee, Arthur, 162. 

Lee, Charles, treason of, 164. 

Lee, Richard Henry, portrait, 219; 
resolutions for independence, 153, 154; 
opposes ratification of the Constitution, 
220. 

Lee, R. E., Confederate general, 477, 
478, 486, 487, 493, 495, 497. 

Legislation, direct, 589. 

Leon, de (da la-on'). Ponce, discovers 
Florida, 26. 

Lexington and Concord, 138, 139. 

Liberty, seizure of the, 126, 127. 

Lincoln, Abraham, portrait, frontispiece; 
autograph, 483; early political views, 
410, 411; on Kansas-Nebraska Act, 
410; debate with Douglas, 417, 418; 
nominated for the presidency, 437, 438; 
elected President, 439; inaugural ad- 
dress, 450; cabinet, 451; proclamation 
for volunteers, 452, 453; policy as to 
emancipation, 481-483; letter to Gree- 
ley, 483; Emancipation Proclamation, 
483, 484; re-elected President, 496, 497 ; 
murdered, 498; on reconstruction, 504, 
505. 

Livingston, Robert R., 154; negotiates 
Louisiana Purchase, 284. 

Longstreet, Confederate general, 488, 490. 

Louisiana, founding of, 94,95; ceded to 
Spain, 96; ceded back to France, 2S4; 
purchased by United States, 283-285. 

Lovejoy, Elijah P., murdered, 370. 

Lowell, F. C , 273. 

Loyalists, 175, 176, 181. 

Lyon, Nathaniel, 454, 455. 

Macon's Bill, No. 2, 298. 

Madison, James, portrait, 297; autograph, 
204; and the Federal Convention, 203; 
N'otes of Debates in convention, 204, 
205; in House of Representatives, 232; 
Virginia Resolutions, 255; Secretary 
of State, 280; President, 297; adminis- 
tration of, 296-317; on internal im- 
provements, 319. 

Magellan, discovers Magellan Strait, 25. 

Maine, settlement of, 64, 91; admitted to 
Union, 329, 330. 

Malvern Hill, battle of, 477. 

Manufacturing, growth of, 270—272, 312, 
43". 567. 568. 

Maps, see Table of Contents. 



Marcos (mar-kos'). Friar, journey to the 
" seven cities," 28. 

Marshall, James W., 395. 

Marshall, John, portrait, 280; autograph, 
318; commissioner to France, 251; 
Secretary of State, 256; Chief Justice, 
260; Marbury vs. Madison, 281; 
Burr's trial, 289; McCulloch vs. Mary- 
land, 318; Dartmouth College case, 
319- 

Maryland, settlement of, 49; charter, 
49-51; boundaries, 50; Toleration Act, 
51; Coode's Rebellion, 89; slavery in, 
102; refuses to ratify confederation, 
192; ratifies, 193; conventions with 
Virginia, 202; in Civil War, 464; aboli- 
tion of slavery in, 484. 

Mason and Dixon's line, 80, 81, 239. 

Massachusetts, charter of, 56, 86, 87; 
Province charter, 89-91 ; settlement and 
early history of, 57-60, 75-77; in 1760- 
75, 113; claims of, to western lands, 
191; cession, 193; in War of 1812, 
312. 

McClellan, General George B., 467; 
Peninsular campaign, 475-477; Antie- 
tam, 478; nominated for presidency, 
496- 

McCormick, Cyrus H., portrait and auto- 
graph, 394; his reaper, 394. 

McCulloch vs. Maryland, 371. 

McDonough, Commodore, 305. 

McDowell, General Irvin,466. 

McKinley, William, portrait, 572; Presi- 
dent, 547-571; death, 571. 

Meade, General George G., at Gettys- 
burg, 486; in later campaign, 493. 

Menendez de Aviles (ma-nen'deth da 
a-vee'les), Pedro, founds St. Augus- 
tine and destroys Huguenot colony, 32. 

Merrimac {.Virginia), 474. 

Mexican War, 389-391. 

Missouri, in Civil War, 454, 455; abolition 
of slavery in, 484. 

Missouri Compromise, 321-331, 368. 

Monitor and Merrimac, ^-ja,, 475. 

Monmouth, battle of, 164. 

Monroe, James, portrait, 318; autograph, 
291; minister to France, 248, 249; signs 
treaty for Louisiana Purchase, 285; 
negotiates treaty with England, 291 ; 
President, 317; administrations of, 
317-332. 

Monroe Doctrine, 323-327. 

Montgomery, General Richard, 148. 

Monts, Sieur de, 41. 

Morton, Thomas, 58. 



Index 



xxvii 



Narvaez, de (da nar-va'eth), Panfilo, his 
expedition, 27. 

Naturalization Acts, 252, 292. 

Neutral trade, 290-292. 

Neutrality Proclamation (1793), 242. 

Newburg Addresses, 173. 

New England, Council for, 51, 52; United 
Colonies of, 64-66; Dominion of, 88; 
Emigration Society, 411. 

New Haven colony, 63, 76. 

New Jersey, colonial history of, 79; slav- 
ery in, loi, 273. 

New Mexico, 390, 542. 

New Netherland, settlement of, 66-68; 
conquest of, 78. 

New Orleans, founding of, 95; battle of, 
305, 306; captured by Farragut, 471- 

473- 
New York, colonial history of, 78, 8g; 

claims to western lands, 190; cessions, 

192. 
New York City, population in 1800, 268; 

in 1830, 350; in 1S60, 428; in 1910, 567. 
North Carolina, land cessions, 190, 193; 

ratification of Constitution, 235. 
North, Lord, 163, 176. 
Northeastern boundary dispute, 380, 381. 
Northmen, voyages of, 15. 
Nullification episode, 363-365. 
Nunez (noon'yeth), Vasco, discovers 

Pacific, 23, 

Oklahoma, 541; admitted to the Union, 

542- 
Olive Branch Petition, 149. 
Ordinance of 1787, 195, ig6. 
Oregon, negotiations as to, 391-393. 
Ostend Manifesto, 549. 
Otis, James, 113, 114; portrait, 113. 

Pacific, discovery of, 23. 

Paine, Thomas, 151. 

Pakenham, British general, 306. 

Panama Canal, 576-579. 

Panama Congress, 337, 338. 

Panama Republic, 577. 

Panic of 1857, 432, 433 ; of 1893, 543. 

Parson's Cause, 114. 

Patroonships, 67. 

Pendleton, Senator, 534. 

Peninsular campaign, 47S-477- 

Penn, William, portrait, 80; and New 

Jersey, 79; grant of Pennsylvania, 80; 

Indian policy, 82; grants Charter of 

Privileges, 83. 
Pennsylvania, colonial history, 80-84. 
Perry, Commodore, 305. 



Philadelphia, population, in 1800, 268; 
in 1830, 350; in 1910, 567. 

Philippines, acquisition of, 559. 

Phillips, Wendell, portrait, 438; auto- 
graph, 370; Faneuil Hall speech, 3.70; 
on Lincoln, 438; on secessiort, 446. 

Pierce, Franklin, elected President, 406, 
407. 

Pilgrim Compact, 53. 

Pilgrims, in England and the Netherlands, 

52, 53- 
Pinckney, Charles C, minister to France, 
249, 251; nominated for vice-presidency, 

Pinckney, Thomas, minister to Spain, 

248; nominated forlvice-presidency, 249. 
Pinckney, William, minister to England, 

291. 
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, sec 

Chatham. 
Pitt, William, the younger, 290. 
Plymouth, colonial history, 53-56. 
Polk, James K., elected President, 388. 
Pope, General John, 469, 477, 478. 
Popham Colony, 43. 
Population, in 1760, 120; in 1775, 143; 

in 1800, 264-268; in 1830, 348, 350; 

in i860, 424-427; in 1910, 598. 
Porto Rico, acquisition of, 559. 
President, functions of the, 215, 445; 

change in mode of election of, 287. 
President and Little Belt, 298. 
Primaries, direct, 588. 
Protection, arguments for and against, 

315. 316, 33'- 
Providence, founding of, 60. 
Puritans, in England, 56; in Maryland, 

51- 

Quakers, in New England, 75-77; in New 
York, 75; in New Jersey, 79; in Penn- 
sylvania, 79, 80. 

Railroads, 354, 429, 519-521. 

Rainfall, s, 6. 

Ralegh colonists, 34, 35. 

Recall, 593. 

Reconstruction, 504-511, 517. 

Referendum, 591. 

Religion and toleration, 103-105, 197, 

356- 

Representation in America and in Eng- 
land, IT9. 

Revolution, campaigns of, 138, 139, 146- 
148, 157-161, 168-171. 

Rhode Island, colonial history of, 60-62; 
charter, 77, 78. 



XXVlll 



Index 



Ribault (re'bo), Jean, leads Huguenots 

to America, 30, 31; conflict with Me- 

nendez, 32, 
Rochambeau, French general, 170. 
Roosevelt, Theodore, portrait, 573; in 

Spanish War, 556; Vice-President, 571 ; 

President, 572; administration, 573- 

581; elected President, 579. 
Rosecrans, General, at Stone River, 481 ; 

at Chickaraauga, 488, 489. 
Rule of War of 1756, 245, 290. 
Rush, minister to England, 324. 
Russia, relations with, 324, 325, 327. 

St. Thomas, 514. 

Santo Domingo, 514. 

Saratoga Convention, 160. 

Scott, General Winfield, portrait, 390; in 
War of 1812, 305; in Mexican War, 
389; nominated for presidency, 406. 

Schofield, General, 491-493. 

Secession, 439, 440, 441-444, 504. 

Sedition Act, 252. 

Seventeenth Amendment, 597. 

Seward, W. H., and compromise of 1850, 
403; the "irrepressible conflict," 418; 
Secretary of State, 451. 

Shays's Rebellion, 200. 

Sheridan, General P. H., at Stone River, 
481; in Shenandoah valley, 495; at 
Appomattox, 497. 

Sherman, Johii, Silver Purchase Law, 
540. 

Sherman, Roger, 136, 154, 205. 

Sherman, General William T., portrait 
and autograph, 489; at Vicksburg, 485; 
at Chattanooga, 490; in Atlanta cam- 
paign, 490; in Georgia and the Caro- 
linas, 491, 492. 

Shiloh, battle of, 473, 474. 

Sixteenth Amendment, 596. 

Slavery, in colonial times, 101-103, -°7' 
compromises as to, 208; first debates 
in Congress, 237-239; Fugitive Slave 
Laws, 238, 239, 404, 405; in 1800, 273, 
274; Missouri Compromise, 329-331; 
in 1830, 351, 352; petitions as to, in 
Congress, 368, 369; extension of slave 
territory, 385-387; compromise of 1850, 
401-403; in i860, 427-428; "corner- 
stone" of Confederacy, 443; Lincoln's 
policy as to, 481-483; abolished, 483. 

Smith, Captain John, 44, 53. 

Soto, de (da so' to), Hernando, his expe- 
dition, 29. 

Southampton (Virginia), slave insurrec- 
tion, 367. 



South Carolina, colonial history, 84; 

claims to western lands, igo; cessions, 

193; Nullification in, 363-365; leads 

secession, 439. 
Spain, relations with, in 1783-89, 199; in 

1795, 204; in 1810-19, 321; War with, 

549-559- 

Specie circular, 375, 376. 

Spoils system, 358, 359. 

Spottsylvania, battle of, 493. 

Squatter sovereignty, 409, 410. 

Stamp Act, 116, 117, 120-124. 

Stanton, Edwin M., 451, 511, 512. 

Stark, General John, portrait, 158; auto- 
graph, 146; at Bunker Hill, 146; at 
Bennington, 158. 

States' rights, 212. 

Steel industry, 567. 

Stephens, Alexander H., 439, 443, 444. 

Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, portrait, 
406; Uncle Tom's Cabin, 405, 

Stuyvesant, Peter, 67, 68. 

Sumner, Charles, portrait, 414; Kansas- 
Nebraska Act, 407, 408. 

Supreme Court, 233, 234, 259, 260, 318, 

319. 
Surplus, distribution of the, 374, 375. 
.Swedish settlements, 68. 

Taft, William H., portrait, 581; Presi- 
dent, 582; administration, 582-584. 

Tallmadge, James W., 328. 

Taney, Roger B., removal of the deposits, 
373, 374; opinion in Dred Scott case, 
416, 417. 

Tariff acts, of 1789, 232; of 1816, 316- 
317; of 1S24, 331-333; of 1828, 338- 
340; of 1832, 363; of 1842, 379; of 1846, 
393-395 ;'^f 1857, 433;'of 1861, 433r*of 
1872, 537-538T* of 1890, 540; effect of, 
54~; of i8g7, 547; oligog, 582. 

Taylor, John W., 328. 

Taylor, General Zachary, in ISIexican 

' War, 389; President, 399; policy as to 

slave extension, 309-401 ; death, 403. 

Tea duty, 133. 

Tenure of Office Act, 511, 512. 

Territorial government, 195. 

TexaSj independence of, 387; annexation 
of, 387,388; boundaries, 389-391. 

Textile industries, 316. 

Thirteenth Amendment, 504. 

Thomas, General George H., portrait 
and autograph, 545; at Mill Spring, 
469; at Stone River, 481; at Chicka- 
mauga, 489; at Chattanooga, 489; at 
Nashville, 493. 



Index 



XXIX 



Topeka convention, 412. 

Toscanelli, Paolo, 16. 

Townshend Acts, 124-126. 

Treaties, with Great Britain, of 1783, 
179-182 ; Jay's Treaty, 246 ; proposed 
(1806), 291 ; Erskine's, 297 ; Ghent, 
310, 311; of 1818, 320; Ashburton 
Treaty, 380, 381 ; Oregon Treaty, 391- 
393; Washington, 517 ; between Great 
Britain and France, St. Germain, 41 ; 
Utrecht, 93 ; Aix la Chapelle, 94 ; Paris 
(1763), 96; with France, alliance 
(1778), 162; of 1800, 257; Louisiana 
Purchase, 283; with Mexico, Guadalupe 
Hidalgo, 390 ; with Russia (1824), 327 ; 
with Spain, of 1795, 248 ; Florida treaty, 
323 ; of 1898, 559. 

Trent affair, 470. 

Trenton, battle of, 157. 

Tweed Ring, 523. 

Twelfth Amendment, 287, 288, 526. 

Tyler, John, President on death of Harri- 
son, 379 ; administration, 379-388. 

United States, area, population, etc., in 
1800, 265 ; in 1830, 348-350 ; in i860, 
424, 425 ; in igio, 598, 599 ; boundaries 
of, 179, 199, 246, 248, 320, 380, 381, 390, 
391—393, 425 ; Alaska Purchase, 513 ; 
and outlying national domain, 564-566. 

United States Bank, the First, 239, 240 ; 
the Second, 371-373. 

Van Buren, Martin, chief of Albany 
Junto, 339 ; Secretary of State, 370 ; 
elected President, 376 ; administration 
of, 376, 377 ; nominated by Free-Soilers, 

399- 

Vane, Sir Henry, 61. 

Venezuela, 545. 

Verrazano, de (da ver-ra-tsa'no), Gio- 
vanni, sails along the Atlantic coast, 

27- 

Vespucius, Americus, his voyages and 
letters, 22, 23. 

Vicksburg campaign, 484. 

Virginia, named, 35 ; Ralegh colonies in, 
34,35; limitsof,42; mapof (1606), 43 ; 
( 1609), 45 ; charter of 1606, 42 ; colony 
of, founded, 44 : charters of 1609 and 
1612,44,45; Dale's laws, 45, 46 ; Puri- 
tans in, 46 ; representative institutions 
in, 46, 47 ; forced labor in, 47 ; negro 
slavery in, 47, 101 ; revocation of the 
charter, 47 ; under the royal governors, 
47, 48 ; during Puritan supremacy, 48, 
49 ; Bacon's rebellion in, 85, 86; con- 



victs in, 103 ; Protestant dissenters in, 
104 ; Resolves of 1769, 127 ; non im- 
portation agreement, 128 ; colonial 
Committee of Correspondence, 132 ; 
Declaration of Independence of, 150; 
first constitution of, 151 ; claims to 
western lands, 190 ; cession of western 
lands, 193 ; Virginia Resolutions of 
1798, 254, 255 ; secession of, 454 ; 
topography of, 465. 

Waldseemiiller (walt'za-miil-er), Martin, 
proposes name " America," 23. 

Walker, Robert J., Secretary of the 
Treasury, 393. 

War of 1S12, 298-309. 

Washington, George, portraits (1772), 
147 ; (1785), 231 ; autograph, 249 ; in 
French and Indian War, 95 ; com- 
mander in chief in Revolution, 148 ; 
cabal against, 161, 162 ; at Newburg, 
173; letter to governors, 182; in 
Federal Convention, 204 ; elected 
President, 225 ; administrations of, 
230-249 ; farewell address, 249 ; com- 
mander in chief (1798), 251. 

Washington, city of, in 1800, 268 ; burn- 
ing of, by British, 305 ; defense of, in 
1 861, 464. 

Wayne, General Anthony, 164. 

Weljster, Daniel, portrait, 361 ; enters 
Congress, 300 ; on protective tariffs 
(1816), 316, 317 ; debate with Hayne, 
359-363 ; Secretary of State, 380 ; 
negotiates Ashburton Treaty, 380, 381 ; 
Seventh of March Speech, 403 ; again 
Secretary of State, 403. 

Welles, Gideon, Secretary of the Navy, 

451- 

Western lands, claims to, 189 ; policy 
of Congress respecting, 192 ; map of 
claims and cessions, 191 ; settlement of 
the, 265, 319. 

Whitney, Eli, 271, 272. 

Wilkinson, General James, 288. 

Williams, Roger, in Massachusetts, 60 ; 
founds Providence, 60, 61 ; place in 
history, 61. 

Wilraot Proviso, 397. 

Wilson, Woodrow, portrait, 585 ; Presi- 
dent, 585. 

Winthrop, John, portrait, 58; 57. 

Woman Suffrage, 587. 

Yeardley, Sir George, 46. 
Yorktown, siege of, 169-171. 



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A History of the United States 

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Elements of United States History 

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